Policy misclassification via swapped IPv6 IPsec masks
Published Oct 18, 2026 · Updated Oct 18, 2026
Policy misclassification in Linux mlx5e IPsec allows attackers to evade intended IPv6 hardware policy matching via crafted traffic. In setup_fte_addr6(), the source and destination address fields receive each other's prefix masks rather than their corresponding masks. Exposure requires hardware-offloaded IPv6 XFRM policies with unequal source and destination prefix lengths; rules then miss covered traffic and match traffic outside the intended policy.
Summary
What happened
Policy misclassification in Linux mlx5e IPsec allows attackers to evade intended IPv6 hardware policy matching via crafted traffic. In setup_fte_addr6(), the source and destination address fields receive each other's prefix masks rather than their corresponding masks. Exposure requires hardware-offloaded IPv6 XFRM policies with unequal source and destination prefix lengths; rules then miss covered traffic and match traffic outside the intended policy.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-98497
- Published
- Oct 18, 2026
- Updated
- Oct 18, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- Unavailable
- Attack vector
- Unavailable
- Privileges
- Unavailable
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Oct 18, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Oct 18, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=6.15
- Affected versionversion=ca7992f52c2cb5ef61fbfa590a2d7c926f290237 <10de7ed8ef4840da9ca21de4c29578657ac367db
- Affected versionversion=ca7992f52c2cb5ef61fbfa590a2d7c926f290237 <3803dc8477f08e0dac4050cafee0de43f32727be
- Affected versionversion=ca7992f52c2cb5ef61fbfa590a2d7c926f290237 <e73f832f0a7b2c6ea45b2124c732d639be97b547
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
No CVSS assessment is available in this record.
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Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Activity data is delayed. The latest report is Sep 28, 2026.
Weakness, pattern, technique
No sourced classifications are available.
Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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