CVE-2026-72502

Published: August 18, 2026Last modified: August 18, 2026

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: tcp: ipv6: clamp default adverting MSS to avoid GSO_BY_FRAGS (0xFFFF) When MTU is large, ip6_default_advmss() can return IPV6_MAXPLEN (65535). This is interpreted by TCP as mss_clamp, allowing the MSS to reach 65535. However, 0xFFFF is also used as a magic value GSO_BY_FRAGS in the kernel. If a TCP packet with gso_size=0xFFFF is passed to skb_segment(), it will be mistakenly treated as GSO_BY_FRAGS, leading to a NULL pointer dereference because local TCP packets do not use frag_list. Fix this by returning min(IPV6_MAXPLEN, GSO_BY_FRAGS - 1) (65534) from ip6_default_advmss() when MTU is large. Also update the stale comment in ip6_default_advmss() which suggested that IPV6_MAXPLEN is returned to mean "any MSS".

Severity score breakdown

ParameterValue
Base score7.5
Attack VectorNETWORK
Attack complexityLOW
Privileges requiredNONE
User interactionNONE
ScopeUNCHANGED
ConfidentialityNONE
Integrity impactNONE
Availability impactHIGH
VectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Status

ProductReleasePackageStatus
Alpaquita Linux23 LTSlinux-ltsFixed (6.1.182-r0)
25 LTSlinux-ltsFixed (6.12.103-r0)
Streamlinux-ltsFixed (6.18.43-r0)

References

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