Bug 2541086 (CVE-2026-97984)

Summary: CVE-2026-97984 kernel: net: ipv6: Fix UDP length overflow with PMTU discover and big MTU
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
Status: NEW --- QA Contact:
Severity: low Docs Contact:
Priority: low    
Version: unspecifiedCC: 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 networking subsystem. A local user could cause a Denial of Service (DoS) by exploiting an integer overflow in the User Datagram Protocol (UDP) length calculation. When Path MTU Discovery is enabled on a network device configured with an unusually large Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU), transmitting oversized UDP packets can exceed the 16-bit length limit and trigger an internal kernel warning.
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 2026-09-25 10:47:05 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

net: ipv6: Fix UDP length overflow with PMTU discover and big MTU

This commit bounds cork->base.fragsize to IP6_MAX_MTU for UDP sockets to
avoid a possible overflow of UDP length that triggers a WARN in
udp_set_len_short when setsockopt IPV6_MTU_DISCOVER is set to
IPV6_PMTUDISC_DO or IPV6_PMTUDISC_PROBE, and a large packet is sent over
a netdev with an unusually large MTU.

Steps to reproduce (included in the new selftest):

1. Set device MTU bigger than IP6_MAX_MTU. cork->base.fragsize will be
   set to that MTU in ip6_setup_cork.
2. Set IPV6_MTU_DISCOVER to IPV6_PMTUDISC_PROBE or IPV6_PMTUDISC_DO. It
   lets maxnonfragsize be set to device MTU (cork->fragsize) in
   __ip6_append_data, rather than to IP6_MAX_MTU.
3. Send 65528 bytes of payload (+8 bytes of UDP header, +40 bytes of
   IPv6 header). Device MTU allows it (it's only one byte bigger than
   IP6_MAX_MTU, and the device MTU is bigger than that).
4. The UDP length in the built packet is 65536, which overflows the
   16-bit length field and triggers the WARN in udp_set_len_short.

To avoid breaking sending UDP jumbograms over raw IPv6 sockets, limit
the change to UDP sockets only.

The original overflow bug with IPv6 and IPV6_PMTUDISC_DO seems to
predate git history (verified reproduction on 2.6.21), was fixed later,
and then reappeared in commit 427faee167bc ("net: ipv6: introduce
ip6_dst_mtu_maybe_forward"), which is chosen as the Fixes tag here. The
overflow with IPV6_PMTUDISC_PROBE reproduces since its introduction in
commit 628a5c561890 ("[INET]: Add IP(V6)_PMTUDISC_RPOBE").