Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
ipv4: udp: Create exceptions before socket matching
Currently, when ICMP Fragmentation Needed and Redirect Message packets
are locally delivered and quote a UDP packet, a FIB nexthop exception
(FNHE) is only created if the kernel can match the UDP packet to an
existing socket.
This behavior allows off-path attackers to conduct a side-channel attack
on the FNHE cache in order to discover the ephemeral port used by a
connected UDP socket.
Commit 6457378fe796 ("ipv4: use siphash instead of Jenkins in
fnhe_hashfun()") and commit 67d6d681e15b ("ipv4: make exception cache
less predictible") tried to mitigate such attacks by making it harder
for attackers to discover hash collisions in the FNHE cache and by
randomizing the number of exceptions a hash bucket can hold,
respectively. Unfortunately, both of the mitigations can be bypassed.
Instead, mitigate such attacks by always creating a FNHE, even before
trying to find a matching socket. Do that by calling ipv4_update_pmtu()
and ipv4_redirect(), the helpers used when the quoted packet did not
originate from a socket.
This means that guesses (right or wrong) from an off-path attacker will
always result in a FNHE being created or updated in the cache that the
attacker can observe.
Pass an oif of 0, in a similar fashion to icmp_err(). This is also the
oif used by the socket path for sockets that are not bound to a device.
Note that this does not allow attackers to create FNHEs that they could
not create before, as both helpers can already be reached with little to
no validation. For example, by sending an ICMP error that quotes an ICMP
Echo Reply or one that quotes a UDP source port that matches a wildcard
socket.
Also note that in the good case (matched socket) the above scheme comes
at the cost of an extra route lookup, as the no socket helpers perform
their own lookup before the one performed by ipv4_sk_update_pmtu() /
ipv4_sk_redirect(). When the two resolve to different nexthops, it also
results in two exceptions being created for the same destination IP. One
in the FNHE cache of the nexthop resolved by the no socket helpers and
another in the FNHE cache of the nexthop used by the socket.
ipv4: udp: Create exceptions before socket matching
Currently, when ICMP Fragmentation Needed and Redirect Message packets
are locally delivered and quote a UDP packet, a FIB nexthop exception
(FNHE) is only created if the kernel can match the UDP packet to an
existing socket.
This behavior allows off-path attackers to conduct a side-channel attack
on the FNHE cache in order to discover the ephemeral port used by a
connected UDP socket.
Commit 6457378fe796 ("ipv4: use siphash instead of Jenkins in
fnhe_hashfun()") and commit 67d6d681e15b ("ipv4: make exception cache
less predictible") tried to mitigate such attacks by making it harder
for attackers to discover hash collisions in the FNHE cache and by
randomizing the number of exceptions a hash bucket can hold,
respectively. Unfortunately, both of the mitigations can be bypassed.
Instead, mitigate such attacks by always creating a FNHE, even before
trying to find a matching socket. Do that by calling ipv4_update_pmtu()
and ipv4_redirect(), the helpers used when the quoted packet did not
originate from a socket.
This means that guesses (right or wrong) from an off-path attacker will
always result in a FNHE being created or updated in the cache that the
attacker can observe.
Pass an oif of 0, in a similar fashion to icmp_err(). This is also the
oif used by the socket path for sockets that are not bound to a device.
Note that this does not allow attackers to create FNHEs that they could
not create before, as both helpers can already be reached with little to
no validation. For example, by sending an ICMP error that quotes an ICMP
Echo Reply or one that quotes a UDP source port that matches a wildcard
socket.
Also note that in the good case (matched socket) the above scheme comes
at the cost of an extra route lookup, as the no socket helpers perform
their own lookup before the one performed by ipv4_sk_update_pmtu() /
ipv4_sk_redirect(). When the two resolve to different nexthops, it also
results in two exceptions being created for the same destination IP. One
in the FNHE cache of the nexthop resolved by the no socket helpers and
another in the FNHE cache of the nexthop used by the socket.
Published:
2026-10-23
Score:
n/a
EPSS:
n/a
KEV:
No
Impact:
n/a
Action:
n/a
Analysis
Analysis and contextual insights are available on OpenCVE Cloud.
Default status is the baseline for the product, each version can override it (e.g. patched versions marked unaffected).
| Vendor | Product | Default status | Versions | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Linux | Linux | unaffected |
|
|||||||||||||||
| Linux | Linux | affected |
|
No data.
No data.
No data available yet.
Remediation
No vendor fix or workaround currently provided.
Additional remediation guidance may be available on OpenCVE Cloud.
Tracking
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Advisories
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References
History
Fri, 23 Oct 2026 12:45:00 +0000
| Type | Values Removed | Values Added |
|---|---|---|
| Description | In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ipv4: udp: Create exceptions before socket matching Currently, when ICMP Fragmentation Needed and Redirect Message packets are locally delivered and quote a UDP packet, a FIB nexthop exception (FNHE) is only created if the kernel can match the UDP packet to an existing socket. This behavior allows off-path attackers to conduct a side-channel attack on the FNHE cache in order to discover the ephemeral port used by a connected UDP socket. Commit 6457378fe796 ("ipv4: use siphash instead of Jenkins in fnhe_hashfun()") and commit 67d6d681e15b ("ipv4: make exception cache less predictible") tried to mitigate such attacks by making it harder for attackers to discover hash collisions in the FNHE cache and by randomizing the number of exceptions a hash bucket can hold, respectively. Unfortunately, both of the mitigations can be bypassed. Instead, mitigate such attacks by always creating a FNHE, even before trying to find a matching socket. Do that by calling ipv4_update_pmtu() and ipv4_redirect(), the helpers used when the quoted packet did not originate from a socket. This means that guesses (right or wrong) from an off-path attacker will always result in a FNHE being created or updated in the cache that the attacker can observe. Pass an oif of 0, in a similar fashion to icmp_err(). This is also the oif used by the socket path for sockets that are not bound to a device. Note that this does not allow attackers to create FNHEs that they could not create before, as both helpers can already be reached with little to no validation. For example, by sending an ICMP error that quotes an ICMP Echo Reply or one that quotes a UDP source port that matches a wildcard socket. Also note that in the good case (matched socket) the above scheme comes at the cost of an extra route lookup, as the no socket helpers perform their own lookup before the one performed by ipv4_sk_update_pmtu() / ipv4_sk_redirect(). When the two resolve to different nexthops, it also results in two exceptions being created for the same destination IP. One in the FNHE cache of the nexthop resolved by the no socket helpers and another in the FNHE cache of the nexthop used by the socket. | |
| Title | ipv4: udp: Create exceptions before socket matching | |
| First Time appeared |
Linux
Linux linux Kernel |
|
| CPEs | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | |
| Vendors & Products |
Linux
Linux linux Kernel |
|
| References |
|
MITRE
Status: PUBLISHED
Assigner: Linux
Published:
Updated: 2026-10-23T12:23:22.773Z
Reserved: 2026-09-25T10:25:14.389Z
Link: CVE-2026-99077
Vulnrichment
No data.
NVD
Status : Received
Published: 2026-10-23T13:17:31.787
Modified: 2026-10-23T13:17:31.787
Link: CVE-2026-99077
Redhat
No data.
OpenCVE Enrichment
No data.
Weaknesses
No weakness.