High severity · published May 27, 2026
CVE-2026-45843
slip: bound decode() reads against the compressed packet length
8.2
CVSS
0.4%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: slip: bound decode() reads against the compressed packet length slhc_uncompress() parses a VJ-compressed TCP header by advancing a pointer through the packet via decode() and pull16(). Neither helper bounds-checks against isize, and decode() masks its return with & 0xffff so it can never return the -1 that callers test for -- those error paths are dead code. A short compressed frame whose change byte requests optional fields lets decode() read past the end of the packet. The over-read bytes are folded into the cached cstate and reflected into subsequent reconstructed packets. Make decode() and pull16() take the packet end pointer and return -1 when exhausted. Add a bounds check before the TCP-checksum read. The existing == -1 tests now do what they were always meant to.
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:N
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
Low
Availability
None
Scope
Unchanged
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)0.4% · higher than 34% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
KE
Kernel · Linux
2.6.12.1 before 5.10.258; 5.11 before 5.15.209; 5.16 before 6.1.175; 6.2 before 6.6.141; 6.7 before 6.12.91; 6.13 before 6.18.33; +6 more · source: NVD
LI
Linux · Linux
1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 before 6268f01ae989013671b526c883e92655342c6f6f; 1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 before 9aafba2f49e1fcccc2018816f5836a609c925879; 1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 before 335957df4ed60f02a2ec0432fbedbf0cc7241d8b; 1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 before 37537e42e6df387398bee85cb85070cc80bb1e10; 1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 before 4cefe32639933d652614b0bd50f818f9af4af78f; 1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 before 0511ecb00e61bf28e2fec4bb41fcce385c3a3b2d; +3 more · source: vendor