CVE-2026-23095: gue: Fix skb memleak with inner IP protocol 0.

Published Feb 4, 2026
·
Updated

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

gue: Fix skb memleak with inner IP protocol 0.

syzbot reported skb memleak below. [0]

The repro generated a GUE packet with its inner protocol 0.

gueudprecv() returns -guehdr->protoctype for "resubmit" in ipprotocoldeliverrcu(), but this only works with non-zero protocol number.

Let's drop such packets.

Note that 0 is a valid number (IPv6 Hop-by-Hop Option).

I think it is not practical to encap HOPOPT in GUE, so once someone starts to complain, we could pass down a resubmit flag pointer to distinguish two zeros from the upper layer:

no error resubmit HOPOPT

[0] BUG: memory leak unreferenced object 0xffff888109695a00 (size 240): comm "syz.0.17", pid 6088, jiffies 4294943096 hex dump (first 32 bytes): 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ 00 40 c2 10 81 88 ff ff 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 .@.............. backtrace (crc a84b336f): kmemleakallocrecursive include/linux/kmemleak.h:44 [inline] slabpostallochook mm/slub.c:4958 [inline] slaballocnode mm/slub.c:5263 [inline] kmemcacheallocnoprof+0x3b4/0x590 mm/slub.c:5270 buildskb+0x23/0x60 net/core/skbuff.c:474 buildskb+0x20/0x190 net/core/skbuff.c:490 tunbuildskb drivers/net/tun.c:1541 [inline] tunbuildskb+0x4a1/0xa40 drivers/net/tun.c:1636 tungetuser+0xc12/0x2030 drivers/net/tun.c:1770 tunchrwriteiter+0x71/0x120 drivers/net/tun.c:1999 newsyncwrite fs/readwrite.c:593 [inline] vfswrite+0x45d/0x710 fs/readwrite.c:686 ksyswrite+0xa7/0x170 fs/readwrite.c:738 dosyscallx64 arch/x86/entry/syscall64.c:63 [inline] dosyscall64+0xa4/0xf80 arch/x86/entry/syscall64.c:94 entrySYSCALL64afterhwframe+0x77/0x7f

Affected Software

13 affected components
linux/kernel
Linux Linux kernel>=3.18<5.10.249
Linux Linux kernel>=5.11<5.15.199
Linux Linux kernel>=5.16<6.1.162
Linux Linux kernel>=6.2<6.6.122
Linux Linux kernel>=6.7<6.12.68
Linux Linux kernel>=6.13<6.18.8
Linux Linux kernel=6.19-rc1
Linux Linux kernel=6.19-rc2
Linux Linux kernel=6.19-rc3
Linux Linux kernel=6.19-rc4
Linux Linux kernel=6.19-rc5
Linux Linux kernel=6.19-rc6

Remediation

Recommended actions to resolve this vulnerability, in priority order.

  1. Upgrade

    Upgrade Linux kernel (GUE) to a version that resolves this vulnerability.

    Patch gue: Fix skb memleak with inner IP protocol 0.

Event History

Feb 4, 2026
CVE Published
via MITRE·04:08 PM
Data Sourced
via MITRE·04:08 PM
DescriptionSeverity
Data Sourced
via NVD·05:16 PM
RemedyDescriptionSeverityWeaknessAffected Software

Frequently Asked Questions

1

What is the severity of CVE-2026-23095?

CVE-2026-23095 is considered a medium severity vulnerability due to potential memory leak issues.

2

How do I fix CVE-2026-23095?

To fix CVE-2026-23095, update your Linux kernel to a version where this vulnerability has been patched.

3

What systems are affected by CVE-2026-23095?

CVE-2026-23095 affects the Linux kernel, specifically versions vulnerable to the GUE protocol handling issue.

4

What impact does CVE-2026-23095 have on system performance?

CVE-2026-23095 could lead to memory leaks, potentially affecting system performance over time.

5

Who reported CVE-2026-23095?

CVE-2026-23095 was reported by the syzbot, a tool for discovering bugs in the kernel.

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