Linux Kernel: Use-After-Free (CVE-2026-89555)
Published Last modified Sources: Debian LTS, Debian, CVE.org, BSI
What is affected, what to do
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mpls: reload header after pskb_may_pull() mpls_select_multipath() calls mpls_multipath_hash() to choose a nexthop when an MPLS route has multiple nexthops. While walking the MPLS label stack, the hash routine caches hdr for the current label.
The available sources name no fixed version. Check the vendor guidance in the references below.
Conflicting version data — version display is hidden until the data is resolved.
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Metrics
9.8
Priority
XIEM Effective CVSS: highest available CVSS rating from NVD and vendor data.
Source: Vendor (CNA), CVSS v3
9.8
CVSS v3
Severity Critical on the scale from 0 to 10.
Source: Debian LTS, Debian, CVE.org, BSI
0.7 %
EPSS score
Low — model estimates < 1% exploitation likelihood.
Source: FIRST EPSS, percentile 52.7
Show all metrics
- Severity
- Critical
Priority (0–325)
The priority score is a consolidated metric that condenses several individual signals into a single, action-guiding ranking: technical severity (CVSS), exploitation likelihood (EPSS), known-exploited status (KEV) and the context of the affected asset. The aim is to answer the only truly important question in vulnerability management: what first?
Read in glossary- 98.07 Methodology
Exploit maturity
An exploit is code or a technique that specifically uses a concrete vulnerability to force unintended behaviour — such as executing code or escalating privileges. It is the tool that turns a theoretical flaw into a practical attack.
Read in glossary- no public PoC known
XIEM Effective CVSS
XIEM® is the tiered managed-security operating model from NEOSEC and a registered trademark of NEOSEC GmbH. It extends classic SIEM — the central collection, normalisation and correlation of security-relevant events — with endpoint forensics, network visibility and deception technology, and consolidates them into three building tiers: Sentry, Orchestrate and Command.
Read in glossary- 9.8 Methodology
CVSS v3
CVSS is the globally established, open standard for assessing the technical severity of a vulnerability on a scale from 0 to 10. It describes how easily a flaw can be exploited and what damage it can cause — but not how likely its actual exploitation is. CVSS and the complementary EPSS deliberately answer different questions.
Read in glossary- 9.8
EPSS score
The EPSS score is the absolute model output for an individual vulnerability: the estimated probability of real-world exploitation within the next 30 days, expressed as a value between 0 and 1 (i.e. 0 % to 100 %). A score of 0.42 means „the model estimates a 42 % chance of real-world exploitation within 30 days“.
Read in glossary- 0.7 %
- Low — model estimates < 1% exploitation likelihood.
EPSS percentile
The EPSS percentile is the relative position of a vulnerability within all EPSS-scored CVEs, expressed as a value between 0 and 1. A percentile of 0.90 means „this CVE has a higher EPSS score than 90 % of all other scored CVEs“. Unlike the EPSS score, it is not a probability — but a positioning within a ranking.
Read in glossary- 52.7
- High — this CVE ranks above the median of all CVEs scored today (rank ≥ 36%).
KEV status
The KEV catalogue is a list maintained by the US authority CISA of vulnerabilities for which active exploitation in the wild has been confirmed. It answers not the question „how severe?“ but „is it already being attacked?“ — thereby sharply prioritising patching.
Read in glossary- —
- Published
Detection rules
No NEOSEC detection rule is available for this vulnerability yet.
Classification under NIS2 and CRA
Rule-based classification from exploitation status and severity. It does not replace a case-by-case assessment.
NIS2
NIS2 is EU Directive (EU) 2022/2555 to raise the level of cybersecurity across the Union. It substantially broadens obligations compared with the first NIS directive: more sectors, mandatory risk management, staged reporting duties and personal accountability of senior management.
Read in glossary- High technical severity: assess and remediate the vulnerability in vulnerability handling under Art. 21(2)(e) NIS2 and document the decision.
CRA
The CRA is EU Regulation (EU) 2024/2847 setting horizontal cybersecurity requirements for „products with digital elements“ — from industrial controllers and software to connected consumer devices. For the first time manufacturers must ensure security across the entire product lifecycle, handle vulnerabilities and provide security updates.
Read in glossary- From 11.12.2027, Annex I Part II CRA requires manufacturers of affected products with digital elements to handle vulnerabilities without delay and provide security updates.
ISO/IEC 27001
ISO/IEC 27001 is the internationally leading standard for an information security management system (ISMS). It describes a risk-based, process-oriented framework to systematically plan, implement, review and improve information security.
Read in glossary- Control A.8.8, management of technical vulnerabilities: assess relevance to your systems, plan remediation and keep evidence.
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mpls: reload header after pskb_may_pull() mpls_select_multipath() calls mpls_multipath_hash() to choose a nexthop when an MPLS route has multiple nexthops. While walking the MPLS label stack, the hash routine caches hdr for the current label. After finding the bottom-of-stack label, it calls pskb_may_pull() before reading the inner IP header. If an skb is constructed with the inner IP header in nonlinear data and insufficient tailroom in the linear head, pskb_may_pull() calls pskb_expand_head() to replace the skb head and free the old one. This leaves hdr pointing to freed memory. The IPv6 path can invalidate hdr again when it performs a second pull for the larger header. The issue was found through static analysis. A reproducer sending a legal Geneve packet through a bareudp/MPLS multipath setup triggered the same KASAN report in 2 of 2 unpatched runs: BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in mpls_select_multipath Read of size 1 at addr ffff88800ecc6e20 by task ksoftirqd/1/23 Call Trace: mpls_select_multipath mpls_forward __netif_receive_skb_list_core netif_receive_skb_list_internal napi_complete_done gro_cell_poll __napi_poll net_rx_action Freed by task 23: kfree pskb_expand_head __pskb_pull_tail mpls_select_multipath Reload hdr from the current skb head after each successful pull before deriving the inner IPv4 or IPv6 header pointer.
Source: Debian LTS Advisories, Debian Security Advisories, cvelistv5, NVD (NIST), BSI WID Portal, BSI CSAF
Affected products
The following versions are affected. Older releases of the same product line are also vulnerable unless stated otherwise.
| Affected versions | Fixed in | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Linux | Linux |
|
|
Vendors and products
Affected operating systems
| Linux | debian | linux | bookworm |
| Linux | debian | linux | trixie |
| Linux | debian | linux-6.12 | bookworm |
References & sources
- git.kernel.orgstable/c/fed638a248116b8a249bd4202d28e5934bdc65ad
- git.kernel.orgstable/c/d82b90a38c2ca8a0694428eab0e9551c23f2447d
- git.kernel.orgstable/c/49d38c1b4390412f8950d33dfaee0ccbd17beb81
- git.kernel.orgstable/c/29e63b8d9fc150cc191b1c6eb7e16e1247e1b650
- git.kernel.orgstable/c/aa4fe0b450a461aa1162fe8375f5d28f4c957df8
- git.kernel.orgstable/c/b1c0783b2facc398437ad8f8b86c636d7a78f8db
- git.kernel.orgstable/c/bfaaff99238326166694354a63a76c02563f98b1
- git.kernel.orgstable/c/d9640239827d6d0cb84263b590f7a4f1596c17eb
Changes to this CVE
Who changed this CVE and when: NVD (analysis, affected products, CVSS), the CVE publisher (CNA) and additional providers such as CISA (ADP).
Record modifiedLinux
1 individual change: Affected versions (publisher)
Show the original change
Individual changes of this event as published by NVD Type Action Before After Affected versions (publisher) added —Affected value modified. <a href="https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/blob/main/cves/2026/89xxx/CVE-2026-89555.json">CVE-2026-89555</a>Source identifier: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
Record modifiedCISA ADP
CISA assessment (SSVC): exploitation: none known, automatable: yes
Show the original change
Individual changes of this event as published by NVD Type Action Before After SSVC assessment added —{"id":"CVE-2026-89555","role":"CISA Coordinator","options":[{"exploitation":"none"},{"automatable":"yes"},{"technicalImpact":"total"}],"version":"2.0.3","timestamp":"2026-10-16T19:24:02.263001Z"}Source identifier: 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0
Record modifiedLinux
New references:Show 5 original changes
Individual changes of this event as published by NVD Type Action Before After Affected versions (publisher) added —Affected value modified. <a href="https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/blob/main/cves/2026/89xxx/CVE-2026-89555.json">CVE-2026-89555</a>Reference added —https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/aa4fe0b450a461aa1162fe8375f5d28f4c957df8Reference added —https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b1c0783b2facc398437ad8f8b86c636d7a78f8dbReference added —https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/bfaaff99238326166694354a63a76c02563f98b1Reference added —https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d9640239827d6d0cb84263b590f7a4f1596c17ebSource identifier: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
Record modifiedLinux
CVSS V3.1: AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Show the original change
Individual changes of this event as published by NVD Type Action Before After CVSS added —AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HSource identifier: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
ReceivedLinux
Description added or changed
New references:Show 6 original changes
Individual changes of this event as published by NVD Type Action Before After Description added —In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mpls: reload header after pskb_may_pull() mpls_select_multipath() calls mpls_multipath_hash() to choose a nexthop when an MPLS route has multiple nexthops. While walking the MPLS label stack, the hash routine caches hdr for the current label. After finding the bottom-of-stack label, it calls pskb_may_pull() before reading the inner IP header. If an skb is constructed with the inner IP header in nonlinear data and insufficient tailroom in the linear head, pskb_may_pull() calls pskb_expand_head() to replace the skb head and free the old one. This leaves hdr pointing to freed memory. The IPv6 path can invalidate hdr again when it performs a second pull for the larger header. The issue was found through static analysis. A reproducer sending a legal Geneve packet through a bareudp/MPLS multipath setup triggered the same KASAN report in 2 of 2 unpatched runs: BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in mpls_select_multipath Read of size 1 at addr ffff88800ecc6e20 by task ksoftirqd/1/23 Call Trace: mpls_select_multipath mpls_forward __netif_receive_skb_list_core netif_receive_skb_list_internal napi_complete_done gro_cell_poll __napi_poll net_rx_action Freed by task 23: kfree pskb_expand_head __pskb_pull_tail mpls_select_multipath Reload hdr from the current skb head after each successful pull before deriving the inner IPv4 or IPv6 header pointer.Affected versions (publisher) added —New affected value received. <a href="https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/blob/main/cves/2026/89xxx/CVE-2026-89555.json">CVE-2026-89555</a>Reference added —https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/29e63b8d9fc150cc191b1c6eb7e16e1247e1b650Reference added —https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/49d38c1b4390412f8950d33dfaee0ccbd17beb81Reference added —https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d82b90a38c2ca8a0694428eab0e9551c23f2447dReference added —https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/fed638a248116b8a249bd4202d28e5934bdc65adSource identifier: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
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<a href="https://intel.neosec.eu/en/cve/CVE-2026-89555"><img src="https://intel.neosec.eu/badge/cve/CVE-2026-89555.svg?lang=en" alt="CVE-2026-89555 – NEOSEC Intel" height="20"></a>