Medium [CVE-2026-63870] only accept IPv6 packets in lowpan_xmit
This medium-severity Red Hat Linux advisory covers CVE-2026-63870 affecting Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9, Red Hat package: kernel-rt.
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Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ieee802154: 6lowpan: only accept IPv6 packets in lowpan_xmit() The aoe driver (or similar) generates a non-IPv6 packet (e.g., ETH_P_AOE) and queues it for transmission via dev_queue_xmit() on a 6LoWPAN interface (configured by the user or test case).
Since the packet is not IPv6, the 6LoWPAN header_ops->create function (lowpan_header_create or header_create) returns early without initializing the lowpan_addr_info structure in the skb headroom.
In the transmit function (lowpan_xmit), the driver calls lowpan_header (or setup_header) which unconditionally copies and uses the lowpan_addr_info from the headroom, which contains uninitialized data. A similar fix is needed in net/bluetooth/6lowpan.c bt_xmit().
A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's 6LoWPAN (IPv6 over Low-Power Wireless Personal Area Networks) module. When a non-IPv6 packet is transmitted over a 6LoWPAN interface, the system attempts to process uninitialized data.
This can lead to system instability or a denial of service, making the system unresponsive. Red Hat severity: Moderate — CVSS 5.5 (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H).
Weakness: CWE-824. Affected Red Hat products: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8; Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.
Red Hat does not currently list a fixing RHSA for this CVE.
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 7 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 7 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 7 days ago·verify at source
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