Medium 5.5Published Jun 25, 2026

CVE-2026-53238netlabel: validate unlabeled address and mask attribute lengths

Updated under an hour ago (Oct 27, 2026, 9:00 AM ET)

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No exploitation reported and no EPSS estimate yet.

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Exploited in the last 30 days

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: netlabel: validate unlabeled address and mask attribute lengths netlbl_unlabel_addrinfo_get() used the address attribute length to determine whether the attribute data could be read as an IPv4 or IPv6 address, but did not independently validate the corresponding mask attribute length. A crafted Generic Netlink request could therefore provide a valid IPv4/IPv6 address attribute with a shorter mask attribute, which would later be read as a full struct in_addr or struct in6_addr. NLA_BINARY policy lengths are maximum lengths by default, so use NLA_POLICY_EXACT_LEN() for the unlabeled IPv4/IPv6 address and mask attributes. This rejects short attributes during policy validation and also exposes the exact length requirements through policy introspection.

CVSS: 5.5 MEDIUM (v3.1, NVD)CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Weakness (CWE): Not given
Known exploited: Not in CISA's KEV catalog
EPSS (exploitation in the next 30 days): Not loaded for this CVE
Assigned by: Linux
NVD analysis: Analyzed
Record last updated: Jun 25, 2026
First seen by InfoSec Signals: Oct 9, 2026

Affected products

Affected products

Linux Linux linux:linux (from the name)	from 8cc44579d1bd77ba3a32f2cb76fd9669c229c5fd before 975a84fd741440853380d37465b6e226cf47254c; from 8cc44579d1bd77ba3a32f2cb76fd9669c229c5fd before 672f0f3b8f875ffe6525a37847eafa7648c4c0c6; from 8cc44579d1bd77ba3a32f2cb76fd9669c229c5fd before 95bda3eac0b1454c2cee98d58d9ba6dd8391e843; 8cc44579d1bd77ba3a32f2cb76fd9669c229c5fd builds before 07a18f5c90dd3d586b73242f5a5bbf0a72f2fdc6; from 8cc44579d1bd77ba3a32f2cb76fd9669c229c5fd before 71c52da13c3737493b42d20d9f33de34e03b3156; 8cc44579d1bd77ba3a32f2cb76fd9669c229c5fd builds before 0c4bb32ad7fdc2dc6a8050f41eb04d4bda56b6c8; from 8cc44579d1bd77ba3a32f2cb76fd9669c229c5fd before ccfe292a966079c61ea68a2da303b2a336170993; from 8cc44579d1bd77ba3a32f2cb76fd9669c229c5fd before 9772589b57e44aedc240211c5c3f7a684a034d3a	CNA record
linux linux_kernel linux:linux_kernel	from 2.6.25 before 5.10.259; from 5.11 before 5.15.210; from 5.16 before 6.1.176; from 6.2 before 6.6.143; from 6.7 before 6.12.94; from 6.13 before 6.18.36; from 6.19 before 7.0.13; 7.1; and 6 more ranges	NVD

References

References

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/975a84fd741440853380d37465b6e226cf47254c	patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/672f0f3b8f875ffe6525a37847eafa7648c4c0c6	patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/95bda3eac0b1454c2cee98d58d9ba6dd8391e843	patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/07a18f5c90dd3d586b73242f5a5bbf0a72f2fdc6	patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/71c52da13c3737493b42d20d9f33de34e03b3156	patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0c4bb32ad7fdc2dc6a8050f41eb04d4bda56b6c8	patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ccfe292a966079c61ea68a2da303b2a336170993	patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9772589b57e44aedc240211c5c3f7a684a034d3a	patch

The CVE record on cve.org NVD's entry

The CVE record is authoritative. Products marked “from the name” were identified from the CNA's free-text names, not a CPE, and are matched less certainly. This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.