# CVE-2015-8215: Denial of service in n/a

> Attackers can cause denial of service via invalid MTU values in IPv6 Router Advertisements, affecting Linux kernel users.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.0 (`AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 16 Nov 2015
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2015-8215, GHSA-2rqg-pj4m-7gvr, UBUNTU-CVE-2015-8215

## What is CVE-2015-8215?

CVE-2015-8215 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 16 Nov 2015. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

net/ipv6/addrconf.c in the IPv6 stack in the Linux kernel before 4.0 does not validate attempted changes to the MTU value, which allows context-dependent attackers to cause a denial of service (packet loss) via a value that is (1) smaller than the minimum compliant value or (2) larger than the MTU of an interface, as demonstrated by a Router Advertisement (RA) message that is not validated by a daemon, a different vulnerability than CVE-2015-0272.  NOTE: the scope of CVE-2015-0272 is limited to the NetworkManager product.

Weakness: CWE-20 (Improper Input Validation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2015-8215?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2015-8215?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2015-8215 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2015-8215 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-2015-8215 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2015-8215 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 16 Nov 2015. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2015-8215 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-2015-8215/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-8215/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2015-8215
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2015-8215
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2015-8215

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-8215/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.