CVE-2026-23016 json
inet: frags: drop fraglist conntrack references
published 2026-01-31 9 mo ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2026-5078
- cvss
- 5.5
- version 3.1, NVD
- cisa kev
- Not listed
- not in CISA's catalog
- epss
- 0.2%
- EPSS 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 4%
- public exploits
- 0
- none known
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
inet: frags: drop fraglist conntrack references
Jakub added a warning in nf_conntrack_cleanup_net_list() to make debugging leaked skbs/conntrack references more obvious.
syzbot reports this as triggering, and I can also reproduce this via ip_defrag.sh selftest:
conntrack cleanup blocked for 60s WARNING: net/netfilter/nf_conntrack_core.c:2512 [..]
conntrack clenups gets stuck because there are skbs with still hold nf_conn references via their frag_list.
net.core.skb_defer_max=0 makes the hang disappear.
Eric Dumazet points out that skb_release_head_state() doesn't follow the fraglist.
ip_defrag.sh can only reproduce this problem since commit 6471658dc66c ("udp: use skb_attempt_defer_free()"), but AFAICS this problem could happen with TCP as well if pmtu discovery is off.
The relevant problem path for udp is: 1. netns emits fragmented packets 2. nf_defrag_v6_hook reassembles them (in output hook) 3. reassembled skb is tracked (skb owns nf_conn reference) 4. ip6_output refragments 5. refragmented packets also own nf_conn reference (ip6_fragment calls ip6_copy_metadata()) 6. on input path, nf_defrag_v6_hook skips defragmentation: the fragments already have skb->nf_conn attached 7. skbs are reassembled via ipv6_frag_rcv() 8. skb_consume_udp -> skb_attempt_defer_free() -> skb ends up in pcpu freelist, but still has nf_conn reference.
Possible solutions: 1 let defrag engine drop nf_conn entry, OR 2 export kick_defer_list_purge() and call it from the conntrack netns exit callback, OR 3 add skb_has_frag_list() check to skb_attempt_defer_free()
2 & 3 also solve ip_defrag.sh hang but share same drawback:
Such reassembled skbs, queued to socket, can prevent conntrack module removal until userspace has consumed the packet. While both tcp and udp stack do call nf_reset_ct() before placing skb on socket queue, that function doesn't iterate frag_list skbs.
Therefore drop nf_conn entries when they are placed in defrag queue. Keep the nf_conn entry of the first (offset 0) skb so that reassembled skb retains nf_conn entry for sake of TX path.
Note that fixes tag is incorrect; it points to the commit introducing the 'ip_defrag.sh reproducible problem': no need to backport this patch to every stable kernel.
Patch / fix
Vendor advisories
What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.
red hat product security vex CVE-2026-23016 updated cvss 6.1
kernel: Linux kernel: Denial of Service due to improper network connection tracking reference handling
-
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 perf, kernel, python-perf, kernel-kdump, kernel-firmware, kernel-bootwrapper, +1 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, python-perf, kernel-kdump, +8 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, kernel-core, kernel-tools, +29 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 rv, perf, rtla, kernel, bpftool, libperf, +83 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 kernelnot affected: vulnerable code not present
Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf
Exploit prediction
0.15% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 4% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).
CVSS scores
| assigned by | version | score | vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| NVD | 3.1 | 5.5 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H |
Affected products
- Linux Linux
Classification
- Technology feeds
References
Sources
- CVE List CVE-2026-23016
- NVD CVE-2026-23016
Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.