CVE-2026-53238
Last modified
CVE-2026-53238 is a medium-severity vulnerability rated 5.5/10 on the CVSS scale. In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: netlabel: validate unlabeled address and mask attribute lengths netlbl_unlabel_addrinfo_get() used the address attribute length to determine whether the attribute data could be read as an IPv4 or IPv6 address, but did not independently validate the corresponding mask attribute length. A crafted Generic Netlink request could therefore provide a valid IPv4/IPv6 address attribute with a shorter mask attribute, which would later be read as a full struct in_addr or struct in6_addr. NLA_BINARY policy lengths are maximum lengths by default, so use NLA_POLICY_EXACT_LEN() for the unlabeled IPv4/IPv6 address and mask attributes. EPSS estimates a 0.18% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days.
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: netlabel: validate unlabeled address and mask attribute lengths netlbl_unlabel_addrinfo_get() used the address attribute length to determine whether the attribute data could be read as an IPv4 or IPv6 address, but did not independently validate the corresponding mask attribute length. A crafted Generic Netlink request could therefore provide a valid IPv4/IPv6 address attribute with a shorter mask attribute, which would later be read as a full struct in_addr or struct in6_addr. NLA_BINARY policy lengths are maximum lengths by default, so use NLA_POLICY_EXACT_LEN() for the unlabeled IPv4/IPv6 address and mask attributes. This rejects short attributes during policy validation and also exposes the exact length requirements through policy introspection.
Metrics
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Affected Software
| Vendor | Product | Versions | Update |
|---|---|---|---|
| Linux | Linux Kernel | >= 2.6.25, < 5.10.259 | — |
| Linux | Linux Kernel | >= 5.11, < 5.15.210 | — |
| Linux | Linux Kernel | >= 5.16, < 6.1.176 | — |
| Linux | Linux Kernel | >= 6.2, < 6.6.143 | — |
| Linux | Linux Kernel | >= 6.7, < 6.12.94 | — |
| Linux | Linux Kernel | >= 6.13, < 6.18.36 | — |
| Linux | Linux Kernel | >= 6.19, < 7.0.13 | — |
| Linux | Linux Kernel | 7.1 | Rc1 |
References
Timeline
- Published
- Last Modified
- Status
- Analyzed
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How Strix Helps
- How Strix found a critical auth bypass in etcdStrix autonomously discovered a critical authentication bypass in etcd, later designated CVE-2026-33413.
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