CVE-2026-72421: ipv4: fib: Don't ignore error route in local/main tables.

Severity: critical (CVSS 10.0 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.6% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2026-08-15 · updated 2026-10-16

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ipv4: fib: Don't ignore error route in local/main tables. When CONFIG_IP_MULTIPLE_TABLES is enabled but no rule is added, fib_lookup() performs route lookup directly on two tables. Since the first lookup does not properly bail out, the result of an error route in the merged local/main table could be overwritten by another route in the default table: # unshare -n # ip link set lo up # ip route add 192.168.0.0/24 dev lo table 253 # ip route add unreachable 192.168.0.0/24 # ip route get 192.168.0.1 192.168.0.1 dev lo table default uid 0 cache <local> Once a random rule is added, the error route is respected: # ip rule add table 0 # ip rule del table 0 # ip route get 192.168.0.1 RTNETLINK answers: No route to host Let's fix the inconsistent behaviour.

Affected products

Linux kernel: 3.6 — fixed in 7.2

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 7.2. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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