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CVE-2026-98557
gve: DQO: fix header length used by gve_can_send_tso() for UDP GSO
Published 2026-10-18 (today) by the Linux kernel CNA. Subsystem drivers/net. Debian urgency: unimportant.
What to do, per Debian release
Debian's own status for CVE-2026-98557 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 | not affected | 6.1.190-1 | Nothing to do. bookworm never shipped the vulnerable code. |
| Debian 13trixie | not affected | 6.12.113-1 | Nothing to do. trixie never shipped the vulnerable code. |
| Debian 14forky | fixed | 7.2.9-1 | Update the kernel and reboot. Fixed in 7.2.9-1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts. |
| Debian unstablesid | fixed | 7.2.9-1 | Update the kernel and reboot. Fixed in 7.2.9-1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts. |
The vulnerability
What the bug is
gve_can_send_tso() computes how many buffers each segment of a GSO packet would span, and for this it needs the length of the headers that the device replicates in front of every segment. It unconditionally uses skb_tcp_all_headers(), which reads the doff field of the TCP header. SKB_GSO_UDP_L4 packets have no TCP header: tcp_hdrlen() then reads one byte of the UDP payload, and header_len can be anything in [0, 60] instead of the transport offset plus the eight bytes of the UDP header that gve_prep_tso() programs into the TSO context descriptor. A wrong header length shifts all the segment boundaries computed in the loop, so the number of buffers per segment can be over or under estimated. In the first case, GSO is needlessly disabled for this packet by gve_features_check_dqo() and the stack has to segment it. In the second case, the driver hands the device a packet whose segments span more than GVE_TX_MAX_DATA_DESCS buffers. Use the UDP header length for SKB_GSO_UDP_L4 packets, matching what gve_prep_tso() does.
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.
drivers/net/ethernet/google/gve/gve_tx_dqo.c
- What this is
- GOOGLE ETHERNET DRIVERSMAINTAINERS section matched on drivers/net/ethernet/google · netdev@vger.kernel.org · Maintained
- Kernel module
- gve
Check it on the machine
grep -wE 'CONFIG_ETHERNET|CONFIG_GVE|CONFIG_NET_VENDOR_GOOGLE' /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 gvePrints 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, but not on every flavour. At least one release below builds the code on some of its kernel flavours and not on others, so the answer depends on the architecture and flavour installed.
- bookwormMnot built on armhf/armmp, armhf/armmp-lpae, armhf/rt/armmp, i386/686, i386/686-pae, i386/rt/686-pae, ppc64el/powerpc64le
- trixieMnot built on armel/rpi, armhf/armmp, armhf/armmp-lpae, armhf/rt/armmp, ppc64el/powerpc64le, ppc64el/powerpc64le-64k, riscv64/riscv64, s390x/s390x
- forky, sidMnot built on armhf/armmp, armhf/armmp-lpae, loong64/loong64, ppc64el/powerpc64le, ppc64el/powerpc64le-64k, riscv64/riscv64, s390x/s390x
- M
- a module where it is built at all; some flavours do not build it
- Build switches
- CONFIG_ETHERNET, CONFIG_GVE, CONFIG_NET_VENDOR_GOOGLE
- 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
- 2026-10-18 (today)source
- CVSS
- no vector published, unrated
- Attack vector
- not published
- EPSS
- not scored
- CISA KEV
- not listedthe KEV catalogue
- Debian urgency
- unimportantsource
- Subsystem
- drivers/net
Upstream fixes
The versions the CNA records as introducing and fixing this, and the commit for each. source
| Introduced | Fixed in | Commit |
|---|---|---|
| 6.18.55 | 6.18.55 | feab3880a72b |
| 7.1 | 7.2.9 | dc9e8964a21f |
| 7.1 | 7.3 | 83769c23fb18 |
Why the CNA scored it this way
The kernel CNA published no CVSS vector and no reasoning for CVE-2026-98557, which is why it is shown as unrated rather than given an invented score. 6,405 of the 20,413 CVEs here carry reasoning; this is not one of them.