Advisory [CVE-2026-52916] disallow unicast fragment in fragment
This security Red Hat Linux advisory covers CVE-2026-52916.
Android app · Google Play
Monitor future Red Hat Linux CVEs from your phone.
Choose a whole vendor or a precise platform, then receive matching security advisories by phone notification, email, or both. Coverage follows 32 official vendor sources and 160+ reviewed platform categories.
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: batman-adv: frag: disallow unicast fragment in fragment batadv_frag_skb_buffer() is called by batadv_batman_skb_recv() when a BATADV_UNICAST_FRAG packet is received.
Once all fragments are collected and the packet is reassembled, batadv_recv_frag_packet() calls batadv_batman_skb_recv() again to process the defragmented payload. A malicious sender can craft a BATADV_UNICAST_FRAG packet whose reassembled payload is itself a BATADV_UNICAST_FRAG packet (matryoshka-style nesting).
Each nesting level recurses through batadv_batman_skb_recv() without bound, growing the kernel stack until it is exhausted. Since refragmentation or fragments in fragments are not actually allowed, discard all packets which are still BATADV_UNICAST_FRAG packets after the defragmentation process.
A remote attacker can exploit this vulnerability by sending specially crafted BATADV_UNICAST_FRAG packets, which are designed to contain other fragmented packets.
This 'fragments in fragments' scenario causes the kernel to recursively process the packets without bound, leading to kernel stack exhaustion and ultimately a Denial of Service (DoS) for the affected system. Red Hat severity: not rated.
Weakness: CWE-770.
Affected versions
No affected-version range was extracted from the source record. The vendor advisory is authoritative — check it before change work.
Official advisory · medium-confidence parse· fetched 9 days ago·verify at source
Fixed versions
No fixed release is recorded yet. That does not prove no patch exists — confirm against the vendor advisory.
Official advisory · medium-confidence parse· fetched 9 days ago·verify at source
Mitigation
The source record does not include mitigation steps. That is not a statement that no fix exists — read the vendor advisory below for the authoritative guidance.
Official advisory · medium-confidence parse· fetched 9 days ago·verify at source
Discussion(0)
No comments yet. Share field notes, upgrade gotchas, or questions — verify against the vendor advisory before acting on community advice.
Sign in to join the discussion.