Bug 2451662 (CVE-2026-23398)

Summary: CVE-2026-23398 kernel: icmp: fix NULL pointer dereference in icmp_tag_validation()
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security <prodsec-ir-bot>
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Priority: medium    
Version: unspecifiedKeywords: Security
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OS: Linux   
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A flaw was found in the Linux kernel. A remote attacker could trigger a kernel panic, leading to a Denial of Service (DoS), by sending a specially crafted Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) Fragmentation Needed error. This occurs when the system is configured for hardened Path Maximum Transmission Unit (PMTU) discovery mode and the ICMP error contains an inner IP header with an unregistered protocol number, causing a null pointer dereference.
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-03-26 11:01:47 UTC 
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

icmp: fix NULL pointer dereference in icmp_tag_validation()

icmp_tag_validation() unconditionally dereferences the result of
rcu_dereference(inet_protos[proto]) without checking for NULL.
The inet_protos[] array is sparse -- only about 15 of 256 protocol
numbers have registered handlers. When ip_no_pmtu_disc is set to 3
(hardened PMTU mode) and the kernel receives an ICMP Fragmentation
Needed error with a quoted inner IP header containing an unregistered
protocol number, the NULL dereference causes a kernel panic in
softirq context.

 Oops: general protection fault, probably for non-canonical address 0xdffffc0000000002: 0000 [#1] SMP KASAN NOPTI
 KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000010-0x0000000000000017]
 RIP: 0010:icmp_unreach (net/ipv4/icmp.c:1085 net/ipv4/icmp.c:1143)
 Call Trace:
  <IRQ>
  icmp_rcv (net/ipv4/icmp.c:1527)
  ip_protocol_deliver_rcu (net/ipv4/ip_input.c:207)
  ip_local_deliver_finish (net/ipv4/ip_input.c:242)
  ip_local_deliver (net/ipv4/ip_input.c:262)
  ip_rcv (net/ipv4/ip_input.c:573)
  __netif_receive_skb_one_core (net/core/dev.c:6164)
  process_backlog (net/core/dev.c:6628)
  handle_softirqs (kernel/softirq.c:561)
  </IRQ>

Add a NULL check before accessing icmp_strict_tag_validation. If the
protocol has no registered handler, return false since it cannot
perform strict tag validation.
Comment 1 Praise Ogwuche 2026-03-26 23:42:09 UTC 
Upstream advisory:
https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/2026032634-CVE-2026-23398-df1e@gregkh/T