CVE-2026-97940: ipv6: fix fib6 walker UAF on seq stop

Severity: high (CVSS 7.8 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.2% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2026-09-25 · updated 2026-10-19

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ipv6: fix fib6 walker UAF on seq stop ipv6_route_iter_active() treats a walker in FWS_U at the table root as already unlinked. fib6_del_route() can move a still-linked walker into that same state when the current leaf is the last route at the root, so ipv6_route_native_seq_stop() skips fib6_walker_unlink(). The seq private object can then be freed while it remains on net->ipv6.fib6_walkers. A later route deletion walks the dangling list and uses the freed walker. Use the list head as membership state and reinitialize it when unlinking. Keep the existing w->node check so a never-started iterator with a zeroed private object is not treated as linked. The same stop helper is used by /proc/net/ipv6_route and by the BPF ipv6_route iterator. The BPF show path only widens the race.

Affected products

Linux kernel: 3.13 — fixed in 7.3

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 7.3. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

Get alerted when CVE-2026-97940 or the next vulnerability affects your stack