High [CVE-2026-52986] don't use simple_strtoul
This high-severity Red Hat Linux advisory covers CVE-2026-52986 affecting Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10.
Aggregated and source-linked by VulniPulse. Data sources, validation and limitations.
VulniPulse record published Record updated
Summary
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.
Is CVE-2026-52986 exploited?
No exploitation is reported in the sources VulniPulse tracks: CVE-2026-52986 is not in the CISA KEV catalog (checked ) and this advisory does not report exploitation. That is not proof the vulnerability cannot be exploited.
How do I fix CVE-2026-52986?
Upgrade to a fixed release named by Red Hat:
- kernel-rt-0:4.18.0-553.162.1.rt7.503.el8_10
- kernel-0:4.18.0-553.162.1.el8_10
- kernel-0:5.14.0-687.55.1.el9_8
- RHSA-2026:66324
- RHSA-2026:66325
- RHSA-2026:76739
Confirm against the vendor advisory before you patch.
Affected versions
No affected-version range was extracted from the source record. The vendor advisory is authoritative. Check it before change work.
Official advisory · high-confidence parse· fetched 14 days ago·verify at source
- kernel-rt-0:4.18.0-553.162.1.rt7.503.el8_10
- kernel-0:4.18.0-553.162.1.el8_10
- kernel-0:5.14.0-687.55.1.el9_8
- RHSA-2026:66324
- RHSA-2026:66325
- RHSA-2026:76739
Official advisory · high-confidence parse· fetched 14 days ago·verify at source
Mitigation
Upgrade to a fixed release: kernel-rt-0:4.18.0-553.162.1.rt7.503.el8_10, kernel-0:4.18.0-553.162.1.el8_10, kernel-0:5.14.0-687.55.1.el9_8, RHSA-2026:66324, RHSA-2026:66325, RHSA-2026:76739. That is the remediation for this advisory.
The vendor advisory may list interim mitigations or workarounds not captured here. Review it before change work.
Official advisory · high-confidence parse· fetched 14 days ago·verify at source
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