# CVE-2009-0778: Denial of service in n/a

> Remote attackers can cause a denial of service by sending packets to a Linux kernel router configured with REJECT routes, leading to connectivity outages.

- **Severity:** High 7.1 (`AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:C`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 12 Mar 2009
- **Updated:** 7 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-2327-m5w2-rg7f

## What is CVE-2009-0778?

CVE-2009-0778 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 12 Mar 2009. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The icmp_send function in net/ipv4/icmp.c in the Linux kernel before 2.6.25, when configured as a router with a REJECT route, does not properly manage the Protocol Independent Destination Cache (aka DST) in some situations involving transmission of an ICMP Host Unreachable message, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (connectivity outage) by sending a large series of packets to many destination IP addresses within this REJECT route, related to an "rt_cache leak."

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2009-0778?

It affects 6 products.


Products: Linux kernel, Vmware Esx, Vmware Server, Vmware Vcenter, Vmware Virtualcenter, Vmware Vma.

## How do I fix CVE-2009-0778?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2009-0778 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2009-0778 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

- [CVE-2026-53266](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53266/): Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-6282](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-6282/): Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-0185](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-0185/): Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-2094](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-2094/): Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-53362](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53362/): Linux Kernel Unspecified (high 7.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2009-0778 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2009-0778 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 12 Mar 2009. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2009-0778 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux kernel. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2009-0778/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2009-0778/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2009-0778
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2009-0778
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2009-0778

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2009-0778/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.