CVE-2026-98532: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ipv6: do not let ipv6_find_hdr() return an offset past the packet end ipv6_find

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ipv6: do not let ipv6_find_hdr() return an offset past the packet end ipv6_find_hdr() walk

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ipv6: do not let ipv6_find_hdr() return an offset past the packet end ipv6_find_hdr() walks the extension header chain, skipping each header by the length that header itself declares. ipv6_optlen() returns up to 2048, and the skip is never checked against skb->len, so the offset stored in *offset can point past the end of the packet. openvswitch installs that offset as the transport header, and update_ipv6_checksum() then reads and writes the transport checksum field out of bounds: BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in inet_proto_csum_replace16+0x445/0x470 Read of size 2 at addr ffff88810b754b06 by task ovs_ipv6_oob/629 CPU: 4 UID: 1000 PID: 629 Comm: ovs_ipv6_oob Tainted: G N 7.3.0-rc3+ #348 Call Trace: inet_proto_csum_replace16+0x445/0x470 set_ipv6_addr+0x3dd/0x460 do_execute_actions+0x6a3d/0x7c40 ovs_execute_actions+0xfd/0x480 ovs_packet_cmd_execute+0xc38/0xf20 genl_rcv_msg+0x59e/0x870 netlink_rcv_skb+0x18b/0x450 genl_rcv+0x2d/0x40 netlink_unicast+0x6bc/0xa20 The buggy address belongs to the object at ffff88810b754980 which belongs to the cache skbuff_small_head of size

Description from the National Vulnerability Database, published by 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

What it means for a small business

Linux is on the computers, phones or browsers your team uses every day. Turn on automatic updates and restart: most of these fixes only take effect after a restart.

How likely is an attack? The Exploit Prediction Scoring System, run by FIRST (the global association of security response teams), puts the odds of this one being exploited in the next 30 days at 0.61%, higher than 49% of CVEs. That’s low, but low isn’t zero, and the odds jump the day someone publishes an exploit. Scored October 28, 2026, updated daily.

Check your own setup

Website check: reads what your site runs from the outside (WordPress version, plugins it can see, old server software) and matches it against this database.
Server check: what your web server says about itself, and whether that version has known flaws.

Sources

Part of the Huttenlocher Technologies vulnerability database, refreshed twice a day from CISA and the NVD. The title, category and plain-language guidance are ours; check the linked record before acting on a detail. This is general guidance, not a review of your systems.

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