CVE-2026-72444

HIGHPre-NVD 7.87.8
EchelonGraph scoreHIGH confidence

Score 7.8 from GitHub Security Advisory (severity: HIGH) published 2026-08-15. a secondary CVSS source baseline 7.8; sources differ by 0.0.

Triggered by: GitHub Security Advisory CVSS
Sources: epss, ghsa, secondary
Trending — 5 sources updated this week
7.8EG
EchelonGraph verdictPlan a fixSerious severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet.
  • High severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS PROB: 0%CVSS: 7.8Exploit: None knownExposed: 0

No vendor fix yet — apply a workaround or compensating control (WAF / firewall / segmentation) and watch for a patch.

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

flow_dissector: check device type before reading ETH_ADDRS

__skb_flow_dissect() unconditionally reads 12 bytes from eth_hdr(skb) when FLOW_DISSECTOR_KEY_ETH_ADDRS is requested. This assumes the skb has a valid Ethernet header at mac_header, which is not always the case.

The problem can be triggered by:

  • Creating a TUN device in L3 mode (IFF_TUN, hard_header_len=0)
  • Attaching a multiq qdisc with a flower filter matching on eth_src
  • Sending a packet through AF_PACKET

Since TUN in L3 mode has no link-layer header, mac_header points to the L3 data area. The flow dissector reads 12 bytes of uninitialized skb memory, which then propagates through fl_set_masked_key() and is used as a rhashtable lookup key in __fl_lookup(), as reported by KMSAN.

Rejecting the filter in the control path (at tc filter add time) is not feasible because TC filter blocks can be shared between arbitrary devices -- a filter installed on an Ethernet device may later classify packets on a headerless device through a shared block. The device association is not fixed at filter creation time.

Fix this by gating the memcpy on dev->type == ARPHRD_ETHER, which ensures only true Ethernet-framed packets have their addresses read. This is more precise than the previous hard_header_len >= 12 check, which would incorrectly pass for non-Ethernet link types like IPoIB (ARPHRD_INFINIBAND, hard_header_len=24) and FDDI (hard_header_len=21) whose L2 headers are not in Ethernet format. Additionally check skb_mac_header_was_set() to guard against the pathological case where mac_header is the unset sentinel (~0U), which would cause eth_hdr() to return a wild pointer.

For the act_mirred redirect case (Ethernet packet redirected to a non-Ethernet device sharing a TC block), zeroing the key is the correct behavior: the packet is now being classified on the target device, where Ethernet address matching is not semantically meaningful.

Note: on non-Ethernet devices, the zeroed key will match a filter configured with all-zero MAC addresses. This is an improvement over the previous behavior where uninitialized memory could randomly match any filter.

CVSS v3
7.8
EG Score
7.8(high)
EG Risk
40(Track)
EG Risk 40/100SSVC: Track

EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score: it fuses intrinsic severity with real-world exploitation and automatability so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner. Distinct from the 0–10 EG Score (severity).

How it’s computed
Severity78% × 45%
Exploitation0% × 40%
Automatability30% × 15%
Action: Routine — remediate on your standard cadence.
EPSS PROB
0%
EPSS %ILE
4%
KEV
Not listed

Published

August 15, 2026

Last Modified

August 17, 2026

Advisory Details (6)

Auto-updated Aug 17, 2026
No patch confirmed yet.
generic

flow_dissector: check device type before reading ETH_ADDRS - kernel/git/stable/linux.git - Linux kernel stable tree

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c6d3bcb0f934d4297ac5fa1c8656ae40694fb601
generic

flow_dissector: check device type before reading ETH_ADDRS - kernel/git/stable/linux.git - Linux kernel stable tree

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/bf6e8af2c8be77489bedeae9f8a9654cb710e500
generic

flow_dissector: check device type before reading ETH_ADDRS - kernel/git/stable/linux.git - Linux kernel stable tree

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9a65860959db594dfc1820c7fdc09285fb7556bf
generic

flow_dissector: check device type before reading ETH_ADDRS - kernel/git/stable/linux.git - Linux kernel stable tree

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/825de39f0c35a112148799b3cbe45af3766c018a
generic

flow_dissector: check device type before reading ETH_ADDRS - kernel/git/stable/linux.git - Linux kernel stable tree

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/594c90b197141944f25991b8314de5c26ee27a7e
generic

flow_dissector: check device type before reading ETH_ADDRS - kernel/git/stable/linux.git - Linux kernel stable tree

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0fe6455b8e1a22414f39c07bc90a1df12b52ec74

Vendor Advisories for CVE-2026-72444(1)

These vendors published their own advisory mentioning this CVE — often with vendor-specific remediation steps + affected product lists not in NVD.

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 31× in last 7d / 31× in last 30d)

Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.

  1. 2026-08-20 22:56 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-08-20 21:26 UTCGHSA enrichment
  3. 2026-08-20 10:35 UTCGHSA enrichment
  4. 2026-08-19 23:44 UTCEG score recompute
  5. 2026-08-19 23:44 UTCGHSA enrichment
  6. 2026-08-19 17:04 UTCEPSS rescore
  7. 2026-08-19 12:53 UTCGHSA enrichment
  8. 2026-08-19 02:02 UTCGHSA enrichment
  9. 2026-08-18 15:11 UTCEG score recompute
  10. 2026-08-18 15:11 UTCGHSA enrichment
  11. 2026-08-18 13:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  12. 2026-08-18 13:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  13. 2026-08-18 04:13 UTCGHSA enrichment
  14. 2026-08-17 17:21 UTCEG score recompute
  15. 2026-08-17 17:21 UTCGHSA enrichment
  16. 2026-08-17 13:47 UTCEPSS rescore
  17. 2026-08-17 06:28 UTCEG score recompute
  18. 2026-08-17 06:28 UTCGHSA enrichment
  19. 2026-08-17 05:57 UTCEG score recompute 7.80
  20. 2026-08-17 05:57 UTCGHSA enrichment
  21. 2026-08-17 05:54 UTCMITRE cvelistV5CVSS v3 → 7.8 · severity → HIGH
  22. 2026-08-17 05:28 UTCEG score recompute
  23. 2026-08-17 05:28 UTCGHSA enrichment
  24. 2026-08-17 05:24 UTCMITRE cvelistV5
  25. 2026-08-16 14:56 UTCEPSS rescore
Show 6 more
  1. 2026-08-16 14:56 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-08-16 02:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  3. 2026-08-15 06:33 UTCGHSA enrichment
  4. 2026-08-15 06:23 UTCNVD update
  5. 2026-08-15 06:04 UTCEG score recompute
  6. 2026-08-15 06:02 UTCMITRE cvelistV5first tracked

Frequently asked(5)

What is CVE-2026-72444?
CVE-2026-72444 is a high vulnerability published on August 15, 2026. In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: flowdissector: check device type before reading ETHADDRS skbflowdissect() unconditionally reads 12 bytes from eth_hdr(skb) when FLOWDISSECTORKEYETHADDRS is requested. This assumes the skb has a valid Ethernet header at mac_header,…
When was CVE-2026-72444 disclosed?
CVE-2026-72444 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on August 15, 2026, with the most recent update on August 17, 2026. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2026-72444 actively exploited?
CVE-2026-72444 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. FIRST EPSS estimates a 0% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, which ranks it in the top 96.3% of all scored CVEs.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2026-72444?
CVE-2026-72444 has a CVSS v3 base score of 7.8 (NVD).
How do I remediate CVE-2026-72444?
Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2026-72444, EchelonGraph cross-links them in the Vendor Advisories panel below — those typically contain the canonical remediation steps, fixed version numbers, and any vendor-specific mitigations.

Dependency Blast Radius

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