# CVE-2026-52986: netfilter: nf_conntrack_sip: don't use simple_strtoul

> A null pointer dereference in the Linux kernel SIP conntrack helper allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service via malformed packets.

- **Severity:** Critical 9.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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:** 24 Jun 2026
- **Updated:** 19 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2026-52986, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-52986, GHSA-p6jx-f9x6-6955, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2026-52986, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2026-52986, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2026-52986, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2026-52986, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-52986

## What is CVE-2026-52986?

CVE-2026-52986 is a critical vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 24 Jun 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:

netfilter: nf_conntrack_sip: don't use simple_strtoul

Replace unsafe port parsing in epaddr_len(), ct_sip_parse_header_uri(),
and ct_sip_parse_request() with a new sip_parse_port() helper that
validates each digit against the buffer limit, eliminating the use of
simple_strtoul() which assumes NUL-terminated strings.

The previous code dereferenced pointers without bounds checks after
sip_parse_addr() and relied on simple_strtoul() on non-NUL-terminated
skb data. A port that reaches the buffer limit without a trailing
character is also rejected as malformed.

Also get rid of all simple_strtoul() usage in conntrack, prefer a
stricter version instead.  There are intentional changes:

- Bail out if number is > UINT_MAX and indicate a failure, same for
  too long sequences.
  While we do accept 05535 as port 5535, we will not accept e.g.
  'sip:10.0.0.1:005060'.  While its syntactically valid under RFC 3261,
  we should restrict this to not waste cycles when presented with
  malformed packets with 64k '0' characters.

- Force base 10 in ct_sip_parse_numerical_param(). This is used to fetch
  'expire=' and 'rports='; both are expected to use base-10.

- In nf_nat_sip.c, only accept the parsed value if its within the 1k-64k
  range.

- epaddr_len now returns 0 if the port is invalid, as it already does
  for invalid ip addresses.  This is intentional. nf_conntrack_sip
  performs lots of guesswork to find the right parts of the message
  to parse.  Being stricter could break existing setups.
  Connection tracking helpers are designed to allow traffic to
  pass, not to block it.

Based on an earlier patch from Jenny Guanni Qu <qguanni@gmail.com>.

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference), CWE-125 (Out-of-bounds Read)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-52986?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-52986?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-52986 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-52986 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-2026-52986 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-52986 is a critical vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 24 Jun 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-2026-52986 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-2026-52986/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-52986/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-52986
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-52986
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-52986

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-52986/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.