# CVE-2026-72232: batman-adv: ensure minimal ethernet header on TX

> A local attacker with eBPF access can trigger an out-of-bounds read in the batman-adv kernel module, potentially causing a crash or code execution.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **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:** Yes
- **Published:** 15 Aug 2026
- **Updated:** 16 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2026-72232, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-72232, GHSA-348f-jxjq-8xpv, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-72232

## What is CVE-2026-72232?

CVE-2026-72232 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux, published on 15 Aug 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:

batman-adv: ensure minimal ethernet header on TX

As documented in commit 8bd67ebb50c0 ("net: bridge: xmit: make sure we have
at least eth header len bytes"), it is possible by for a local user with
eBPF TC hook access to attach a tc filter which truncates the packet and
redirects to an batadv interface. But the code assumes that at least
ETH_HLEN bytes are available and thus might read outside of the available
buffer.

The batadv_interface_tx() must therefore always check itself if enough data
is available for the ethernet header and don't rely on min_header_len.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-72232?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-72232?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-72232 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-72232 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-72232 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-72232 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux, published on 15 Aug 2026. 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-2026-72232 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux. 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-2026-72232/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-72232/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-72232
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-72232
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-72232

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-72232/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.