CVE-2026-46244: netfilter: nft_inner: Fix IPv6 inner_thoff desync

Severity: critical (CVSS 9.1 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.4% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2026-06-03 · updated 2026-10-19
Weakness: CWE-682

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: netfilter: nft_inner: Fix IPv6 inner_thoff desync In nft_inner_parse_l2l3(), when processing inner IPv6 packets, ipv6_find_hdr() correctly computes the transport header offset traversing all extension headers, but the result is immediately overwritten with nhoff + sizeof(_ip6h) (40 bytes), which only accounts for the IPv6 base header. This creates a desync between inner_thoff (wrong — points to extension header start) and l4proto (correct — e.g., IPPROTO_TCP), enabling transport header forgery and potential firewall bypass. This issue affects stable versions from Linux 6.2. For comparison, the normal (non-inner) IPv6 path correctly preserves ipv6_find_hdr()'s result. Removing the incorrect overwrite ensures that ipv6_find_hdr()'s calculated transport header offset is preserved, thereby fixing the desynchronization.

Affected products

Linux kernel: from 6.2 before 6.6.142; from 6.7 before 6.12.92; from 6.13 before 6.18.34; from 6.19 before 7.0.11; 7.1-rc1, 7.1-rc2, 7.1-rc3, 7.1-rc4 — fixed in 6.12.92, 6.18.34, 6.6.142, 7.0.11

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 6.12.92, 6.18.34, 6.6.142, 7.0.11. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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