# CVE-2026-80590: inet: frags: strip GSO state from fragments before reassembly

> An unprivileged user can trigger a kernel panic by sending crafted fragmented packets via tun/tap interfaces, causing a denial of service.

- **Severity:** High 8.6 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/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:** 28 Aug 2026
- **Updated:** 19 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-98117, BELL-CVE-2026-80590, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-80590, GHSA-m48g-6cv9-p3rh, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-80590, openSUSE-SU-2026:11648-1

## What is CVE-2026-80590?

CVE-2026-80590 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux, published on 28 Aug 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:

inet: frags: strip GSO state from fragments before reassembly

A virtio_net_hdr (tun/tap, or AF_PACKET with PACKET_VNET_HDR) can mark
an IPv4 or IPv6 fragment as GSO; nothing relates gso_type to frag_off.
inet_frag_reasm_prepare()/inet_frag_reasm_finish() keep the first
fragment's skb as the head of the reassembled datagram, including its
shinfo->gso_size/gso_type/gso_segs, and chain the remaining fragments
on frag_list with whatever linear/paged layout they arrived with.

After ip_defrag() (ip_local_deliver(), nf_defrag_ipv4, ...) the
reassembled skb therefore still claims to be GSO (SKB_GSO_DODGY), and
the next software segmentation point - udp_rcv_segment() on local
delivery, validate_xmit_skb(), or the ip_finish_output_gso() slow
path - hands it to skb_segment(). skb_segment()'s frag_list walk
assumes GRO-shaped input and hits one of its BUG_ON()s. Two writes to
a tap by an unprivileged user in its own userns are enough:

  kernel BUG at net/core/skbuff.c:4899!
  Oops: invalid opcode: 0000 [#1] SMP KASAN NOPTI
  CPU: 0 UID: 1000 PID: 82 Comm: poc Not tainted 7.2.0-pentest+ #2
  RIP: 0010:skb_segment+0x20ca/0x48b0
  Call Trace:
   <TASK>
   __udp_gso_segment+0x29a/0x27d0
   udp4_ufo_fragment+0x458/0x6c0
   inet_gso_segment+0x429/0x1340
   skb_mac_gso_segment+0x233/0x4f0
   __skb_gso_segment+0x308/0x660
   udp_queue_rcv_skb+0x440/0xad0
   udp_unicast_rcv_skb+0xc7/0x2c0
   udp_rcv+0x16ce/0x2260
   ip_protocol_deliver_rcu+0x197/0x2d0
   ip_local_deliver+0x430/0x690
   ip_rcv+0x16f/0x1f0
   __netif_receive_skb_one_core+0x15e/0x1c0
   __netif_receive_skb+0x1e/0x110
   netif_receive_skb+0xf6/0x5c0
   tun_rx_batched.isra.0+0x3ab/0x790
   tun_get_user+0x17c3/0x3550
   tun_chr_write_iter+0xba/0x1b0
   vfs_write+0x646/0x1130
   </TASK>
  Kernel panic - not syncing: Fatal exception in interrupt

This runs with BH disabled, so it is a panic rather than an oops. The
same is reachable with CAP_NET_RAW in a netns where a defrag point
precedes a GSO point, and from a guest whose VMM forwards
virtio_net_hdr to a tap. The SKB_GSO_DODGY frag_list checks added by
commit 3dcbdb134f32 ("net: gso: Fix skb_segment splat when splitting
gso_size mangled skb having linear-headed frag_list") and by
commit 9e4b7a99a03a ("net: gso: fix panic on frag_list with mixed head
alloc types") do not cover it: page-backed heads skip them, and kmalloc
heads skip them when gso_size == skb_headlen(head), which the sender
controls.

An skb entering a frag queue is an IP fragment by definition and
cannot legitimately carry GSO state: GRO does not merge fragments and
the stack segments before it fragments, so only untrusted sources are
affected. This has been reachable since
commit f43798c27684 ("tun: Allow GSO using virtio_net_hdr"), the first
path that let userspace attach GSO metadata to an IP fragment. Reset
the GSO fields of every fragment as it is queued, in
inet_frag_queue_insert(), which IPv4, IPv6, nf_conntrack_reasm and
6lowpan reassembly share; then neither the head nor the frag_list
members of the reassembled skb carry them (the members matter too:
the ip_do_fragment()/ip6_fragment() fast paths send them out as they
are). The head may remain CHECKSUM_PARTIAL; that is already accepted
on receive and resolved by skb_checksum_help() in
ip_do_fragment()/ip6_fragment() on forward.

Tested on top of net.git (dc4b95b8fee9), x86_64: the tap reproducer
above, two further IPv4 frag_list geometries that reach
BUG_ON(i >= nfrags) and BUG_ON(!list_skb->head_frag), and an IPv6
fragment-header variant (udp6_ufo_fragment()) each panic the unpatched
kernel; with this patch all four datagrams are delivered intact and
nothing is logged.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-80590?


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `kernel-source` | openSUSE:Tumbleweed | All versions | 7.2.2-1.1 |

## How do I fix CVE-2026-80590?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-80590 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-80590 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-80590 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-80590 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux, published on 28 Aug 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-2026-80590 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-2026-80590/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-80590/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-80590
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-80590
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-80590

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-80590/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.