CVE-2026-23276 net: add xmit recursion limit to tunnel xmit functions
A missing recursion limit in Linux kernel tunnel transmission functions allows attackers to cause a kernel stack overflow and system crash via specific network configurations.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Any signed-in user
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-23276?
CVE-2026-23276 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 20 Mar 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Official description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
net: add xmit recursion limit to tunnel xmit functions
Tunnel xmit functions (iptunnel_xmit, ip6tunnel_xmit) lack their own recursion limit. When a bond device in broadcast mode has GRE tap interfaces as slaves, and those GRE tunnels route back through the bond, multicast/broadcast traffic triggers infinite recursion between bond_xmit_broadcast() and ip_tunnel_xmit()/ip6_tnl_xmit(), causing kernel stack overflow.
The existing XMIT_RECURSION_LIMIT (8) in the no-qdisc path is not sufficient because tunnel recursion involves route lookups and full IP output, consuming much more stack per level. Use a lower limit of 4 (IP_TUNNEL_RECURSION_LIMIT) to prevent overflow.
Add recursion detection using dev_xmit_recursion helpers directly in iptunnel_xmit() and ip6tunnel_xmit() to cover all IPv4/IPv6 tunnel paths including UDP encapsulated tunnels (VXLAN, Geneve, etc.).
Move dev_xmit_recursion helpers from net/core/dev.h to public header include/linux/netdevice.h so they can be used by tunnel code.
BUG: KASAN: stack-out-of-bounds in blake2s.constprop.0+0xe7/0x160 Write of size 32 at addr ffff88810033fed0 by task kworker/0:1/11 Workqueue: mld mld_ifc_work Call Trace: <TASK> __build_flow_key.constprop.0 (net/ipv4/route.c:515) ip_rt_update_pmtu (net/ipv4/route.c:1073) iptunnel_xmit (net/ipv4/ip_tunnel_core.c:84) ip_tunnel_xmit (net/ipv4/ip_tunnel.c:847) gre_tap_xmit (net/ipv4/ip_gre.c:779) dev_hard_start_xmit (net/core/dev.c:3887) sch_direct_xmit (net/sched/sch_generic.c:347) __dev_queue_xmit (net/core/dev.c:4802) bond_dev_queue_xmit (drivers/net/bonding/bond_main.c:312) bond_xmit_broadcast (drivers/net/bonding/bond_main.c:5279) bond_start_xmit (drivers/net/bonding/bond_main.c:5530) dev_hard_start_xmit (net/core/dev.c:3887) __dev_queue_xmit (net/core/dev.c:4841) ip_finish_output2 (net/ipv4/ip_output.c:237) ip_output (net/ipv4/ip_output.c:438) iptunnel_xmit (net/ipv4/ip_tunnel_core.c:86) gre_tap_xmit (net/ipv4/ip_gre.c:779) dev_hard_start_xmit (net/core/dev.c:3887) sch_direct_xmit (net/sched/sch_generic.c:347) __dev_queue_xmit (net/core/dev.c:4802) bond_dev_queue_xmit (drivers/net/bonding/bond_main.c:312) bond_xmit_broadcast (drivers/net/bonding/bond_main.c:5279) bond_start_xmit (drivers/net/bonding/bond_main.c:5530) dev_hard_start_xmit (net/core/dev.c:3887) __dev_queue_xmit (net/core/dev.c:4841) ip_finish_output2 (net/ipv4/ip_output.c:237) ip_output (net/ipv4/ip_output.c:438) iptunnel_xmit (net/ipv4/ip_tunnel_core.c:86) ip_tunnel_xmit (net/ipv4/ip_tunnel.c:847) gre_tap_xmit (net/ipv4/ip_gre.c:779) dev_hard_start_xmit (net/core/dev.c:3887) sch_direct_xmit (net/sched/sch_generic.c:347) __dev_queue_xmit (net/core/dev.c:4802) bond_dev_queue_xmit (drivers/net/bonding/bond_main.c:312) bond_xmit_broadcast (drivers/net/bonding/bond_main.c:5279) bond_start_xmit (drivers/net/bonding/bond_main.c:5530) dev_hard_start_xmit (net/core/dev.c:3887) __dev_queue_xmit (net/core/dev.c:4841) mld_sendpack mld_ifc_work process_one_work worker_thread </TASK>
Weakness: CWE-674
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-23276?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Linux kernel.
How do I fix CVE-2026-23276?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.
Is CVE-2026-23276 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-23276 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
Sources
Also known as AZL-80216, BELL-CVE-2026-23276, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-23276, GHSA-89g4-663g-prjh, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2026-23276, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2026-23276 and 4 more.