CVE-2026-43190: netfilter: xt_tcpmss: check remaining length before reading optlen

Severity: high (CVSS 8.2 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 2026-10-19
Weakness: CWE-125

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: netfilter: xt_tcpmss: check remaining length before reading optlen Quoting reporter: In net/netfilter/xt_tcpmss.c (lines 53-68), the TCP option parser reads op[i+1] directly without validating the remaining option length. If the last byte of the option field is not EOL/NOP (0/1), the code attempts to index op[i+1]. In the case where i + 1 == optlen, this causes an out-of-bounds read, accessing memory past the optlen boundary (either reading beyond the stack buffer _opt or the following payload).

Affected products

Linux kernel: from 2.6.12.1 before 5.10.252; from 5.11 before 5.15.202; from 5.16 before 6.1.165; from 6.2 before 6.6.128; from 6.7 before 6.12.75; from 6.13 before 6.18.16 — fixed in 5.10.252, 5.15.202, 6.1.165, 6.12.75, 6.18.16, 6.19.6

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 5.10.252, 5.15.202, 6.1.165, 6.12.75. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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