SOC status:Duty analyst on shift

UK Cyber Defence
VulnerabilityAnalyzed

CVE-2026-53235

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: add pskb_may_pull() to skb_gro_receive_list() skb_gro_receive_list() calls skb_pull(skb, skb_gro_offset(skb)) without first ensuring the data is in the linear area via…

HIGH 7.5EPSS 0.44%

Does this matter?

High impact if exploited, but EPSS currently rates exploitation as unlikely (0.44%). Schedule it in the normal patch cycle and watch for a rise in EPSS or a public exploit.

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: add pskb_may_pull() to skb_gro_receive_list() skb_gro_receive_list() calls skb_pull(skb, skb_gro_offset(skb)) without first ensuring the data is in the linear area via pskb_may_pull(). When the skb arrives via napi_gro_frags(), skb_headlen can be 0 (all data in page fragments) while skb_gro_offset is non-zero (after IP+TCP header parsing). The skb_pull() then decrements skb->len by skb_gro_offset but skb->data_len stays unchanged, hitting BUG_ON(skb->len < skb->data_len) in __skb_pull(). The UDP fraglist GRO path already contains this guard at udp_offload.c:749. Adding it to skb_gro_receive_list() itself provides centralized protection for all callers (TCP, UDP, and any future protocols), and ensures the precondition of skb_pull() is satisfied before it is called. On pskb_may_pull() failure, set NAPI_GRO_CB(skb)->flush = 1 so the skb is not held as a new GRO head and is instead delivered through the normal receive path, matching the UDP handling.

CVSS 3.1
7.5 HIGHCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
EPSS
0.44% probability · 37th percentile
CISA KEV
Not listed
Affected
linux/linux kernel
Source
416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA. Refreshed daily.