CVE-2026-52916: batman-adv: frag: disallow unicast fragment in fragment

Severity: medium (CVSS 5.5 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.1% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2026-06-24 · updated 2026-07-08

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: batman-adv: frag: disallow unicast fragment in fragment batadv_frag_skb_buffer() is called by batadv_batman_skb_recv() when a BATADV_UNICAST_FRAG packet is received. Once all fragments are collected and the packet is reassembled, batadv_recv_frag_packet() calls batadv_batman_skb_recv() again to process the defragmented payload. A malicious sender can craft a BATADV_UNICAST_FRAG packet whose reassembled payload is itself a BATADV_UNICAST_FRAG packet (matryoshka-style nesting). Each nesting level recurses through batadv_batman_skb_recv() without bound, growing the kernel stack until it is exhausted. Since refragmentation or fragments in fragments are not actually allowed, discard all packets which are still BATADV_UNICAST_FRAG packets after the defragmentation process.

Affected products

Linux kernel: from 3.13 before 5.10.258; from 5.11 before 5.15.209; from 5.16 before 6.1.175; from 6.2 before 6.6.142; from 6.7 before 6.12.92; from 6.13 before 6.18.34 — fixed in 5.10.258, 5.15.209, 6.1.175, 6.12.92, 6.18.34, 6.6.142

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 5.10.258, 5.15.209, 6.1.175, 6.12.92. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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