High severity · published Sep 11, 2026
CVE-2026-89563
ip6_tunnel: use skb_cow_head() in ip6_tnl_xmit()
7.8
CVSS
0.1%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ip6_tunnel: use skb_cow_head() in ip6_tnl_xmit() ip6_tnl_xmit() may need to expand headroom before it can push the outer IPv6 and optional encap headers. It currently does that with skb_realloc_headroom(), copies skb->sk ownership, consumes the original skb, and then continues processing with the replacement skb kept only in its local variable. That is safe only if the helper cannot fail afterwards. But this helper still has post-reallocation error exits. collect_md tunnels reject non-NONE encap after the replacement, and ip6_tnl_encap() can also fail later. In those cases the helper returns an error to its callers while the caller still only has the original skb pointer. Both ip6_tnl_start_xmit() and the IPv6 GRE paths free the caller skb on error, so they can end up freeing an skb that ip6_tnl_xmit() already consumed. Use skb_cow_head() instead. It provides the required headroom and writability without privately replacing the caller-owned skb, so later error returns cannot leave callers with a stale pointer. The Ethernet users, ip6gretap and ip6erspan, clear IFF_TX_SKB_SHARING and already call skb_cow_head() before entering ip6_tnl_xmit(). They do not rely on the removed skb_shared() reallocation. This also makes the IPv6 tunnel path consistent with ip_tunnel_xmit().
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High
Scope
Unchanged
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)0.1% · higher than 3% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
LI
Linux · Linux
058214a4d1dfefed9f01a277fadd3590acb5f990 before 6e8eff8ed13b14708bc39f170144eacde494aac6; 058214a4d1dfefed9f01a277fadd3590acb5f990 before dc1a319a4815c074914e2812e0e9cd0164ca682b; 058214a4d1dfefed9f01a277fadd3590acb5f990 before 629d5557e635cdbc109a14ed913ba5a540e3f79a; 058214a4d1dfefed9f01a277fadd3590acb5f990 before defa0adeff132cc90ed66915b9a104d9393e1e54; 058214a4d1dfefed9f01a277fadd3590acb5f990 before 37df5bc6b5ccad88c2faa0f5466f150178882b74; 058214a4d1dfefed9f01a277fadd3590acb5f990 before b36dfd6e8cff00cea81c11cc0af88d1564763461; +3 more · source: vendor