Bug 2532448 (CVE-2026-89561)

Summary:	CVE-2026-89561 kernel: ipv6: rpl: fix NULL dereference of idev in ipv6_rpl_srh_rcv()
Product:	[Other] Security Response	Reporter:	OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component:	vulnerability	Assignee:	Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
Status:	NEW ---	QA Contact:
Severity:	medium	Docs Contact:
Priority:	medium
Version:	unspecified	CC:	akhatavk, aos-team-art-private, asdas, dpaolell, jdelft, jupierce, lgarciaa, mbiarnes, ppalepu, ppostler, prdhamdh, rhel-process-autobot, sghai, sidsharm, suppawar, vlaad, watson-tool-maintainers
Target Milestone:	---	Keywords:	Security
Target Release:	---
Hardware:	All
OS:	Linux
Whiteboard:
Fixed In Version:		Doc Type:	---
Doc Text:	A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's IPv6 Routing Protocol for Low-Power and Lossy Networks (RPL) implementation. A remote attacker could send specially crafted IPv6 packets to a vulnerable system while manipulating the network interface's Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU), which defines the largest packet size that can be transmitted. This manipulation could lead to a null pointer dereference in the `ipv6_rpl_srh_rcv()` function, causing a kernel crash and resulting in a Denial of Service (DoS).	Story Points:	---
Clone Of:		Environment:
Last Closed:		Type:	---
Regression:	---	Mount Type:	---
Documentation:	---	CRM:
Verified Versions:		Category:	---
oVirt Team:	---	RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team:	---	Target Upstream Version:
Embargoed:

Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-09-11 23:20:01 UTC

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

ipv6: rpl: fix NULL dereference of idev in ipv6_rpl_srh_rcv()

ipv6_rpl_srh_rcv() dereferences idev from __in6_dev_get() without a NULL
check when reading idev->cnf.rpl_seg_enabled.

When the device's MTU drops below IPV6_MIN_MTU, addrconf_ifdown() clears
dev->ip6_ptr through RCU_INIT_POINTER(). A packet that passed the idev
check in ip6_rcv_core() can then reach ipv6_rpl_srh_rcv() with
dev->ip6_ptr already NULL.

Reproduced by flooding the receiving interface with ping6 traffic while
flapping its MTU between 1500 and 1200:

 BUG: KASAN: null-ptr-deref in ipv6_rpl_srh_rcv+0xb3/0x1070
 Read of size 4 at addr 00000000000006b4 by task ping6/394

 CPU: 2 UID: 0 PID: 394 Comm: ping6 Not tainted 7.2.0-rc7-micro-vm-dev-00095-g24ef02f934ee #240 PREEMPT(full)
 Call Trace:
  <IRQ>
  kasan_report+0xc6/0x100
  ipv6_rpl_srh_rcv+0xb3/0x1070
  ip6_protocol_deliver_rcu+0x759/0x9a0
  ip6_input_finish+0xa8/0x1b0
  ip6_input+0xe1/0x490
  ipv6_rcv+0x33d/0x460
  __netif_receive_skb_one_core+0xd6/0x130
  process_backlog+0x2cc/0xa00
  __napi_poll.constprop.0+0x56/0x270
  net_rx_action+0x327/0x730
  handle_softirqs+0x11e/0x630
  do_softirq+0xb3/0xf0
  </IRQ>

Both ipv6_rpl_srh_rcv() and ipv6_srh_rcv() are called only from
ipv6_rthdr_rcv(), which already has an idev lookup.

Fix the NULL dereference on the RPL path by checking idev in
ipv6_rthdr_rcv(), before it calls either function. The callees take idev as
an argument and no longer call __in6_dev_get(), so the packet is now
dropped in one place, with SKB_DROP_REASON_IPV6DISABLED on both paths.

Comment 1 gkamathe 2026-09-15 13:21:18 UTC

Upstream advisory:
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/security/vulns.git/plain/cve/published/2026/CVE-2026-89561.mbox