CVE-2026-43099: ipv4: icmp: fix null-ptr-deref in icmp_build_probe()

Severity: high (CVSS 7.5 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.5% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2026-05-06 · updated 2026-10-15
Weakness: CWE-476

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ipv4: icmp: fix null-ptr-deref in icmp_build_probe() ipv6_stub->ipv6_dev_find() may return ERR_PTR(-EAFNOSUPPORT) when the IPv6 stack is not active (CONFIG_IPV6=m and not loaded), and passing this error pointer to dev_hold() will cause a kernel crash with null-ptr-deref. Instead, silently discard the request. RFC 8335 does not appear to define a specific response for the case where an IPv6 interface identifier is syntactically valid but the implementation cannot perform the lookup at runtime, and silently dropping the request may safer than misreporting "No Such Interface".

Affected products

Linux kernel: from 5.13 before 6.6.136; from 6.7 before 6.12.83; from 6.13 before 6.18.24; from 6.19 before 6.19.14; 7.0-rc1, 7.0-rc2, 7.0-rc3, 7.0-rc4, 7.0-rc5, 7.0-rc6 (+1) — fixed in 6.12.83, 6.18.24, 6.19.14, 6.6.136

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 6.12.83, 6.18.24, 6.19.14, 6.6.136. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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