Look up another CVE · open CVE-2026-74569 in the interactive tracker
CVE-2026-74569
netfilter: nf_conntrack_sip: widen NAT rewrite delta to s32 in sip_help_tcp()
Published 2026-08-15 (2 months ago) by the Linux kernel CNA. Subsystem include/linux. Debian urgency: not yet assigned.
What to do, per Debian release
Debian's own status for CVE-2026-74569 in every release this site tracks, and what each one means in practice. Every status below is the one the Debian Security Team publishes for this CVE. source
| Release | Status | Version | What this means |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian 12bookworm | fixedDLA-4777-1 · 2026-09-08 · text | 6.1.187-1 | Update the kernel and reboot. DLA-4777-1 shipped the fix on 2026-09-08, in 6.1.187-1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts. |
| Debian 13trixie | fixedDSA-6466-1 · 2026-08-25 · text | 6.12.105-1 | Update the kernel and reboot. DSA-6466-1 shipped the fix on 2026-08-25, in 6.12.105-1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts. |
| Debian 14forky | fixed | 7.1.8-1 | Update the kernel and reboot. Fixed in 7.1.8-1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts. |
| Debian unstablesid | fixed | 7.1.8-1 | Update the kernel and reboot. Fixed in 7.1.8-1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts. |
| Debian 12bookworm · linux-6.12 | fixedDLA-4788-1 · 2026-09-19 · text | 6.12.107-1~deb12u1 | Update the kernel and reboot. DLA-4788-1 shipped the fix on 2026-09-19, in 6.12.107-1~deb12u1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts. |
The vulnerability
What the bug is
sip_help_tcp() stores the size change of each NAT-rewritten SIP message in s16 diff and accumulates it in s16 tdiff, but a single message can grow by more than S16_MAX while the packet stays under the 65535 enlarge_skb() limit: nf_nat_sip() rewrites every matching URI, and a long Contact list expands the message by tens of kilobytes. diff then wraps, and "datalen = datalen + diff - msglen" yields a huge unsigned datalen, so the next iteration's ct_sip_get_header() reads past the linearized skb tail. Widen diff, tdiff and the seq_adjust hook to s32. Both are bounded by the 65535 byte packet limit, and the seqadj core is already s32 (nf_ct_seqadj_set() takes s32), so no previously accepted input is rejected. BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in ct_sip_get_header (net/netfilter/nf_conntrack_sip.c:464) Read of size 1 at addr ffff888010800000 by task ksoftirqd/1/25 ct_sip_get_header (net/netfilter/nf_conntrack_sip.c:464) sip_help_tcp (net/netfilter/nf_conntrack_sip.c:1694) nf_confirm (net/netfilter/nf_conntrack_proto.c:183) nf_hook_slow (net/netfilter/core.c:619) ip6_output (net/ipv6/ip6_output.c:246) ip6_forward (net/ipv6/ip6_output.c:690) ipv6_rcv (net/ipv6/ip6_input.c:351) __netif_receive_skb_one_core (net/core/dev.c:6212) process_backlog (net/core/dev.c:6676) __napi_poll (net/core/dev.c:7735) net_rx_action (net/core/dev.c:7955) handle_softirqs (kernel/softirq.c:622) run_ksoftirqd (kernel/softirq.c:1076) ...
Where it lives
The fix touches these files. If the subsystem is one you do not use, the practical exposure is lower, though the package is still the vulnerable one.
include/linux/netfilter/nf_conntrack_sip.h
net/netfilter/nf_conntrack_sip.c
net/netfilter/nf_nat_sip.c
- What this is
- NETFILTERMAINTAINERS section matched on include/linux/netfilter/ · netfilter-devel@vger.kernel.org · Maintained
- Kernel module
- nf_conntrack_sip
Check it on the machine
grep -wE 'CONFIG_NETFILTER|CONFIG_NF_CONNTRACK_SIP' /boot/config-$(uname -r)Reads the booted kernel's own configuration, on the machine and nowhere else. =y is built in, =m is a module, and an is not set line means the code is not there.
lsmod | grep -w nf_conntrack_sipPrints a line if that module is loaded right now, and nothing if it is not. One that is not loaded can still be loaded later by anything that needs it.
Show whether Debian builds this, per release
Debian builds this as a loadable module. Every release below compiles it as a module on every flavour, so whether the code is in the running kernel depends on whether that module is loaded.
- bookworm, trixie, forky, sid, bookworm · linux-6.12m
- m
- a loadable module on every flavour - check lsmod, can be blacklisted
- Build switches
- CONFIG_NETFILTER, CONFIG_NF_CONNTRACK_SIP
- Reads as
- all on means the file is compiled; any one off means it is not.
From the configuration Debian publishes for every kernel flavour it builds. It covers only the architectures Debian ships a linux-config package for, and nothing about a kernel you built yourself. Debian's own status above stays authoritative about the source package.MAINTAINERS kbuild Makefiles Debian linux-config packages
Signals
- Published
- 2026-08-15 (2 months ago)source
- CVSS
- 9.8 critical
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:Hsource recompute it - Attack vector
- network (AV:N)source
- EPSS
- 0.39%, higher than 31.3% of all CVEssource
- CISA KEV
- not listedthe KEV catalogue
- Debian urgency
- not yet assignedsource
- Subsystem
- include/linux
Upstream fixes
The versions the CNA records as introducing and fixing this, and the commit for each. source
| Introduced | Fixed in | Commit |
|---|---|---|
| 2.6.34 | 5.10.265 | ed1f9be6dc8e |
| 2.6.34 | 5.15.216 | 1b0843f9e9b9 |
| 2.6.34 | 6.1.183 | 32d4abc8923b |
| 2.6.34 | 6.6.151 | 63eea41759fd |
| 2.6.34 | 6.12.103 | c97621a110e3 |
| 2.6.34 | 6.18.44 | f74554e67ccf |
| 2.6.34 | 7.1.8 | ef5e2c6555d2 |
| 2.6.34 | 7.2 | db3d0e0e5d4b |
Debian advisories
| Advisory | Date | Shipped to | Debian |
|---|---|---|---|
| DLA-4788-1 | 2026-09-19 | bookworm 6.12.107-1~deb12u1 | tracker |
| DLA-4777-1 | 2026-09-08 | bookworm 6.1.187-1 | tracker |
| DSA-6466-1 | 2026-08-25 | trixie 6.12.105-1 | tracker |
Why the CNA scored it this way
Quoted from the kernel CNA's own scoring file, word for word. A highlighted metric carries the most severe value CVSS v3.1 defines for it, which is what pushes the score up. source
- AV:NAttack vector, network
- Remote attackers trigger sip_help_tcp() by sending crafted TCP SIP traffic that traverses netfilter nf_confirm() on POST_ROUTING/LOCAL_IN during packet receive/forward (ipv6_rcv→ip6_forward→ip6_output→nf_hook_slow), the standard path for network-facing SIP ALG/NAT gateways.
- AC:LAttack complexity, low
- Once nf_conntrack_sip and nf_nat_sip are active on a NATed SIP flow, the attacker fully controls the TCP SIP payload (Contact list length and private URIs) to force >32KB NAT expansion and deterministic s16 wrap; no race or external timing is required.
- PR:NPrivileges required, none
- Exploitation requires no privileges on the victim kernel; a remote SIP peer only needs to deliver malicious TCP SIP packets through an already-configured SIP conntrack/NAT helper, with no authentication or local access to the target system.
- UI:NUser interaction, none
- No victim user interaction is required beyond normal automated packet processing; the helper parses and NAT-rewrites attacker-supplied SIP data in softirq during connection tracking confirmation without any user action.
- S:UScope, unchanged
- Impact is confined to kernel netfilter/conntrack memory on the same security authority (e.g., a NAT firewall or router). This is not a VM escape, sandbox breakout, or cross-tenant boundary violation.
- C:HConfidentiality impact, high
- Integer overflow yields a huge unsigned datalen, causing ct_sip_get_header() to read past the linearized skb tail; KASAN reports a use-after-free read, and this out-of-bounds/UAF access can disclose adjacent kernel heap memory beyond the packet buffer.
- I:HIntegrity impact, high
- Although the immediate fault is a read past skb bounds, KASAN-classified UAF/out-of-bounds kernel heap corruption is exploitable with heap grooming for control of freed/reallocated objects, enabling arbitrary write and potential code execution in kernel context.
- A:HAvailability impact, high
- The corrupted datalen drives out-of-bounds access in softirq packet processing (ksoftirqd), which can cause kernel oops/panic and denial of service on the NAT/firewall handling the SIP flow; the bug is reliably triggerable with crafted packets.