Live › vulnerability › CVE-2026-99191
Go to dashboardThe Linux kernel's CALIPSO IPv6 labeling code miscalculates the payload length field when it inserts or resizes a CALIPSO option on BIG TCP (GRO) packets. The wrong length can break packet handling in netfilter, conntrack and the sch_cake scheduler.
Summary written from the sources below. Check the originals before acting.
First seen by InfraStack 2026-10-28 11:32 UTC. All times on this page are UTC.
Only systems that run the Linux kernel with CALIPSO labeling configured through NetLabel, which maps IPv6 destinations to CALIPSO DOI values, can hit this code path. The sources describe a router adding CALIPSO options to forwarded traffic, and packets that GRO has built larger than IPV6_MAXPLEN. Systems that do not use CALIPSO can skip it.
No product ranges from the sources yet.
uname -r and compare against the fixed kernel release in your distribution's advisorynetlabelctl calipso list or by looking for CALIPSO DOI mappingsEach row is the first time that source carried this signal. The analyst’s rows are its own findings.
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
calipso: keep BIG TCP payload_len in calipso_skbuff_setattr()
calipso_skbuff_setattr() adjusts payload_len by the length of the option it inserts or resizes:
payload = ntohs(ip6_hdr->payload_len);
ip6_hdr->payload_len = htons(payload + len_delta);
GRO can build BIG TCP packets larger than IPV6_MAXPLEN, and stores payload_len == 0 for them; ipv6_payload_len() then falls back to skb->len. For such a packet forwarded to a destination mapped to CALIPSO, the code above writes len_delta (or 65536 + len_delta when shrinking) into payload_len, and ipv6_payload_len() no longer falls back to skb->len. nf_tables, conntrack and sch_cake rely on it.
The same arithmetic also wraps when a packet grows past IPV6_MAXPLEN, and a BIG TCP packet that shrinks below IPV6_MAXPLEN should get its real length back.
Set payload_len from the skb length with ipv6_set_payload_len(), which stores 0 above IPV6_MAXPLEN and the real length otherwise, as ipv6_gro_complete() does. The network header was just reset to skb->data, so skb->len - sizeof(*ip6_hdr) is the payload length.
Tested on one kernel (arm64, QEMU) with SELinux permissive, a minimal mdp-generated policy (network_peer_controls=1), "netlabelctl calipso add pass doi:16" and a NetLabel mapping of fd00:2::/64 to CALIPSO DOI 16. calipso_skbuff_setattr() was called through netlbl_skbuff_setattr() from a test-only debugfs hook (not part of this patch) adding a level-only label; payload_len after the call:
case before fix after fix real length 1000, unlabeled 1016 1016 1016 70000 GSO, payload_len 0 16 0 70016 65530 GSO, grows past MAXPLEN 10 0 65546 65540 GSO with a 24 byte hop header, shrinks below MAXPLEN 65528 65532 65532 1000 with a 24 byte hop header 992 992 992
(0 means ipv6_payload_len() returns the real length.) On the forward path, with a client injecting unlabeled UDP through a router to a server, the router adds the CALIPSO option and the server delivers all datagrams (Udp6InDatagrams 5, Ip6InTruncatedPkts 0) with this patch.
This page as .md · .json · in your agent: get_signal("CVE-2026-99191")
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