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Fencer Vulns
high 8.2

CVE-2026-68118 json

tcp: challenge ACK for non-exact RST in SYN-RECEIVED

published 2026-08-10 2 mo ago modified 2026-10-30 10 d ago also EUVD-2026-55499

cvss
8.2
version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.4%
EPSS 0.4% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 35%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

tcp: challenge ACK for non-exact RST in SYN-RECEIVED

The SYN-RECEIVED request-socket path in tcp_check_req() accepts an in-window RST without requiring SEG.SEQ to exactly match RCV.NXT. A non-exact RST therefore removes the request instead of eliciting a challenge ACK.

RFC 9293 section 3.10.7.4 applies the RFC 5961 reset check in SYN-RECEIVED: an exact RST resets the connection, while a non-exact in-window RST must trigger a challenge ACK and be dropped.

Apply that check before the ACK-field validation, following the RFC sequence-number, RST, then ACK processing order. Factor the per-netns challenge ACK quota out of tcp_send_challenge_ack() so request sockets can share it. Use the request socket's send_ack() callback and its own out-of-window ACK timestamp to send and rate-limit the response.

Patch / fix

  • Linux Linux 3.1, 3.3, 3.5, 6.1.191, 6.6.153, 6.12.105, 6.18.42, 7.1.6, 7.2
  • linux Debian 13 6.12.105-1
  • linux Debian 14 7.1.6-1
  • linux-6.12 Debian 12 6.12.107-1~deb12u1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2026-68118

  • linux Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-38.38
  • linux-aws Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-1014.14
  • linux-gcp Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-1014.14
  • linux-gke Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-1008.9
  • linux-ibm Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-1015.15
  • linux-azure Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-1017.17
  • linux-riscv Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-38.38.1
  • linux-oracle Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-1013.13

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2026-68118

Ubuntu security data © Canonical Ltd., from https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

  • kernel Azure Linux 3.0 6.6.157.1-1

azure linux advisories AZL-95003

Azure Linux vulnerability data, Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation, from https://github.com/microsoft/AzureLinuxVulnerabilityData via OSV, under the MIT licence; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. MIT

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-2026-68118 updated cvss 3.7

kernel: tcp: challenge ACK for non-exact RST in SYN-RECEIVED

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, python-perf, kernel-kdump, +9 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, kernel-core, kernel-tools, +30 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 rv, perf, rtla, kernel, bpftool, libperf, +84 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 kernel 6.12.0-55.94.1.el10_0
    affected: workaround, no fix available “Fix deferred”
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux for NVIDIA 26 kernel 6.12.0-55.94.1.el10_0
    affected: workaround, no fix planned “Out of support scope”
  • Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 openshift/ose-rhel-coreos-9 Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 5 openshift/ose-rhel-coreos-9
    affected: workaround, no fix available “Fix deferred”
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 perf, kernel, python-perf, kernel-kdump, kernel-firmware, kernel-bootwrapper, +2 more Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 openshift/ose-rhel-coreos-8
    not 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

CISA SSVC

Exploitation
none
Automatable
yes
Technical impact
partial
Assessed
24 d ago

Exploit prediction

0.40% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 35% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CNA 3.1 8.2 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:H

Affected products

  • Linux Linux

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-20 Improper Input Validation
Technology feeds

References

Sources

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.