# CVE-2026-23095: gue: Fix skb memleak with inner IP protocol 0.

> A memory leak in the Linux kernel GUE protocol handler allows attackers to cause denial of service by sending crafted packets with inner protocol 0.

- **Severity:** High 7.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 4 Feb 2026
- **Updated:** 19 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-77136, BELL-CVE-2026-23095, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-23095, GHSA-fg3v-8p2h-99jg, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2026-23095, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2026-23095, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23095

## What is CVE-2026-23095?

CVE-2026-23095 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 4 Feb 2026. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

gue: Fix skb memleak with inner IP protocol 0.

syzbot reported skb memleak below. [0]

The repro generated a GUE packet with its inner protocol 0.

gue_udp_recv() returns -guehdr->proto_ctype for "resubmit"
in ip_protocol_deliver_rcu(), but this only works with
non-zero protocol number.

Let's drop such packets.

Note that 0 is a valid number (IPv6 Hop-by-Hop Option).

I think it is not practical to encap HOPOPT in GUE, so once
someone starts to complain, we could pass down a resubmit
flag pointer to distinguish two zeros from the upper layer:

  * no error
  * resubmit HOPOPT

[0]
BUG: memory leak
unreferenced object 0xffff888109695a00 (size 240):
  comm "syz.0.17", pid 6088, jiffies 4294943096
  hex dump (first 32 bytes):
    00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  ................
    00 40 c2 10 81 88 ff ff 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  .@..............
  backtrace (crc a84b336f):
    kmemleak_alloc_recursive include/linux/kmemleak.h:44 [inline]
    slab_post_alloc_hook mm/slub.c:4958 [inline]
    slab_alloc_node mm/slub.c:5263 [inline]
    kmem_cache_alloc_noprof+0x3b4/0x590 mm/slub.c:5270
    __build_skb+0x23/0x60 net/core/skbuff.c:474
    build_skb+0x20/0x190 net/core/skbuff.c:490
    __tun_build_skb drivers/net/tun.c:1541 [inline]
    tun_build_skb+0x4a1/0xa40 drivers/net/tun.c:1636
    tun_get_user+0xc12/0x2030 drivers/net/tun.c:1770
    tun_chr_write_iter+0x71/0x120 drivers/net/tun.c:1999
    new_sync_write fs/read_write.c:593 [inline]
    vfs_write+0x45d/0x710 fs/read_write.c:686
    ksys_write+0xa7/0x170 fs/read_write.c:738
    do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:63 [inline]
    do_syscall_64+0xa4/0xf80 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:94
    entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f

Weakness: CWE-401 (Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-23095?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-23095?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-23095 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-23095 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-2026-23095 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-23095 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 4 Feb 2026. 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-2026-23095 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-2026-23095/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-23095/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-23095
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-23095
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-23095

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-23095/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.