CVE-2026-99999

CRITICALPre-NVD 9.39.3
EchelonGraph scoreMEDIUM confidence

“—” beside the score: it is equal to the CVSS score beside it.

This critical-severity CVE scores 9.3 under a secondary CVSS source (NVD's own analysis pending). EPSS exploit probability: 0.2% (10th percentile of EPSS-scored CVEs). No GitHub Security Advisory CVSS is on record for this CVE.

Triggered by: Headline CVSS from a secondary CVSS source
Sources: EPSS, a secondary CVSS source
Trending — Patch released this weekElevated
9.3EG
EchelonGraph verdictPlan a fixRemediate within your standard update timelines (the SSVC decision on this page).
  • Public exploit or proof-of-concept code is available
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS PROB: 0.2%CVSS: 9.3Exploit: Public PoCExposed services: Not assessed

A fix is available — apply it.

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

ipv4: validate checksum_start before completing checksum

If a packet with bad checksum metadata gets into the ipv4 stack, skb_checksum_help can corrupt the network header and cause a bunch of mischief.

This was discovered and reported by Paulos, and has been reporoduced by others independently since.

We really shouldn't allow such packets in, but as a defence in depth measure, let's also check before we complete the checksum.

A more complete validation at input is forthcoming, but needs more work.

CVSS v3
9.3
EG Score
9.3CRITICALmedium confidence
EG Risk
58
EG Risk 58/100

EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score. It fuses impact severity (EG Severity, the CVSS base score, never the KEV-floored or EPSS-lifted EG Score) with real-world exploitation and automatability, under weights EchelonGraph set by hand, so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner.

How it’s computed (value × EchelonGraph’s weight)
Severity93% × 45%
Impact severity (EG Severity): CVSS 9.3 of 10. Never the KEV-floored or EPSS-lifted EG Score.
Exploitation40% × 40%
EchelonGraph's fixed weight for EG-KEV Tier 3 (Elevated): a constant, not a probability.
Automatability0% × 15%
CISA's SSVC Automatable value: no (Vulnrichment).
SSVC (CISA's decision table, applied by EchelonGraph): Track at low or medium mission impact; Track* at high (mission-essential systems).
Exploitation none (CISA Vulnrichment) · Automatable no (CISA Vulnrichment) · Technical impact total (CISA Vulnrichment). All three are CISA's SSVC values (Vulnrichment). EchelonGraph applied CISA's decision table to them; CISA publishes SSVC inputs and the table, not a decision for each CVE.
Action: A fix is available. Apply it within your standard update timelines.
EPSS PROB
0.2%
EPSS %ILE
10th
KEV
Not listed

What the EG score is made of (scorer v4.0: the three questions the 0–10 score mixes, published apart · methodology)

The EG score (9.3): severity, escalated by confirmed exploitation. This CVE's 9.3 is its impact severity (EG Severity), not escalated.

EG Severity
9.3 CRITICALCVSS-B, impact only: no KEV listing, EPSS or EG-KEV tier raises it.a secondary CVSS source · CVSS v3.0 or v3.1
EG Likelihood
0.2% within 30 daysSource: FIRST EPSS (model v2026.06.15, score date 2026-10-21). FIRST's exploitation probability, not an EchelonGraph model.
Confirmed exploitation
None on record (CISA KEV, EG-KEV Tier 1)Reported apart from the likelihood: an observed fact, not a probability.
EG Priority
SSVC Track at medium mission impactTrack at low or medium mission impact; Track* at high (mission-essential systems).CISA BOD 26-04: 14 days if the affected system is publicly exposed; Fix on system upgrade if it is not.Each input and its source: the SSVC and BOD 26-04 blocks below.

SSVC (CISA's decision table, applied by EchelonGraph)Track at low or medium mission impact; Track* at high (mission-essential systems).

A fix is available. Apply it within your standard update timelines.

Exploitation none (CISA Vulnrichment) · Automatable no (CISA Vulnrichment) · Technical impact total (CISA Vulnrichment). All three are CISA's SSVC values (Vulnrichment). EchelonGraph applied CISA's decision table to them; CISA publishes SSVC inputs and the table, not a decision for each CVE. Mission impact is CISA's Mission & Well-being decision point, and only you can judge it. CISA's table makes it high when Mission Prevalence is Essential — the vulnerable component "directly provides capabilities that constitute at least one MEF for at least one entity" (MEF: mission essential function) — or when Public Well-Being Impact is Irreversible: "multiple fatalities are likely", the cyber-physical system "is likely lost or destroyed", "extreme or serious externalities" are imposed on other parties, or social systems such as elections or the financial grid "are destabilized and potentially collapse". CISA's decision table

BOD 26-04 (CISA's remediation timeline, Table 1)14 days if the affected system is publicly exposed; Fix on system upgrade if it is not.

In CISA KEV no (CISA's KEV catalog) · Automatable no (CISA Vulnrichment) · Technical impact total (CISA Vulnrichment). Whether your system is publicly exposed is yours to answer. BOD 26-04 binds US Federal Civilian Executive Branch agencies; for anyone else it is CISA's published timeline, a reference rather than an obligation. The directive · how EchelonGraph applies it

Published

October 15, 2026

Last Modified

October 19, 2026

Advisory Details (9)

Auto-updated Oct 15, 2026
Patch available.
Web page

Findings from the $1M Vercel Sandbox challenge - Vercel

https://vercel.com/blog/findings-from-the-1-million-dollar-vercel-sandbox-challenge
Web page

ipv4: validate checksum_start before completing checksum - kernel/git/stable/linux.git - Linux kernel stable tree

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6785011f8b16abf40b1e9d8b2e332232b3e68822
Web page

ipv4: validate checksum_start before completing checksum - kernel/git/stable/linux.git - Linux kernel stable tree

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c3e33464746166264334641dc850a36eef7e6326
Web page

ipv4: validate checksum_start before completing checksum - kernel/git/stable/linux.git - Linux kernel stable tree

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f3e835af6226f1dd12160cbd696081e9b6155de0
Web page

ipv4: validate checksum_start before completing checksum - kernel/git/stable/linux.git - Linux kernel stable tree

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/32a8b0adaa18e52aaa0b246b5ffe683075354dbb
Web page

ipv4: validate checksum_start before completing checksum - kernel/git/stable/linux.git - Linux kernel stable tree

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a65f69e0f38ffbed1b128029e09097436416dc8b
Web page

ipv4: validate checksum_start before completing checksum - kernel/git/stable/linux.git - Linux kernel stable tree

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/94524b7b32691de2e2ce162c04d6cbc9106e5cbf
Web page

ipv4: validate checksum_start before completing checksum - kernel/git/stable/linux.git - Linux kernel stable tree

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0fab003ef4698e0628060a45a48f14b43ba2a40a
Web page

ipv4: validate checksum_start before completing checksum - kernel/git/stable/linux.git - Linux kernel stable tree

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a464d950f31c89565cbaae038cc60db04fe01956

Patch Availability(3)

Vendor / EcosystemFix (by version range) / PatchReleasedSource
redhatkernel-0:6.12.0-55.112.1.el10_02026-10-20redhat
redhatkernel-0:5.14.0-687.59.1.el9_82026-10-20redhat
redhatkernel-0:5.14.0-427.157.1.el9_42026-10-20redhat

Patches are aggregated from vendor advisories (Red Hat, Microsoft, Cisco, GitHub) and package ecosystems (OSV, GHSA). Multiple rows for the same upstream release have been deduplicated.

Weakness Classification(1)

MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 33× in last 7d / 33× in last 30d)

Each row is a time one of our pipelines fetched, updated or re-scored this CVE. 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. An arrow marks a change the record states ("CVSS v3 → 9.1"); EPSS and GHSA rows show the values recorded at that time, not what changed (EPSS values are rounded; hover one for the exact figures). Most recent first.

  1. 2026-10-21 20:39 UTCEG score recompute
  2. 2026-10-21 20:39 UTCVendor advisory
  3. 2026-10-21 16:34 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.2% · 10th percentile
  4. 2026-10-20 21:32 UTCEG score recompute
  5. 2026-10-20 21:32 UTCVendor advisory
  6. 2026-10-20 16:34 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.2% · 10th percentile
  7. 2026-10-19 22:28 UTCEG score recompute
  8. 2026-10-19 22:28 UTCVendor advisory
  9. 2026-10-19 21:33 UTCEG score recompute
  10. 2026-10-19 21:33 UTCVendor advisory
  11. 2026-10-19 16:38 UTCEG score recompute
  12. 2026-10-19 16:38 UTCVendor advisory
  13. 2026-10-19 16:34 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.2% · 10th percentile
  14. 2026-10-19 10:28 UTCEG score recompute
  15. 2026-10-19 10:28 UTCVendor advisory
  16. 2026-10-19 09:41 UTCVendor advisory
  17. 2026-10-18 17:27 UTCEG score recompute
  18. 2026-10-18 17:27 UTCVendor advisory
  19. 2026-10-18 16:38 UTCEG score recompute
  20. 2026-10-18 16:38 UTCVendor advisory
  21. 2026-10-18 16:33 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.2% · 10th percentile
  22. 2026-10-18 10:23 UTCVendor advisory
  23. 2026-10-18 02:55 UTCEG score recompute
  24. 2026-10-17 16:35 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.2% · 10th percentile
  25. 2026-10-17 11:18 UTCEG score recompute
Show 8 more
  1. 2026-10-16 16:45 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.2% · 10th percentile
  2. 2026-10-16 16:43 UTCEG score recompute
  3. 2026-10-16 15:55 UTCEG score recompute
  4. 2026-10-15 23:26 UTCEG score recompute
  5. 2026-10-15 22:28 UTCEG score recompute
  6. 2026-10-15 13:28 UTCEG score recompute
  7. 2026-10-15 12:50 UTCEG score recomputeFirst assessed: 9.3 CRITICAL
  8. 2026-10-15 12:47 UTCMITRE cvelistV5first tracked

Publicly available exploits

(5 references)

Public exploit code is referenced for this CVE (4 GitHub PoCs), as is 1 GitHub checker repository. A GitHub repository named or described as a checker or scanner checks whether a system is affected; it is not necessarily exploit code. Defenders should treat patch urgency accordingly.

  • GitHub PoCgandli/CVE-2026-99999-pwnescape
    Published Oct 19, 2026

    CVE-2026-99999 (PwnEscape) reproduction: IPv4 csum_start validation bug — IHL rewrite and 32-byte kernel heap disclosure

    Open source ↗
  • GitHub PoC01luyicheng/CVE-2026-99999
    Published Oct 18, 2026

    CVE-2026-99999 PwnEscape PoC - Linux kernel IPv4 csum_start validation bug guest-to-host memory leak (CVSS 9.3)

    Open source ↗
  • GitHub PoCPeronGH/CVE-2026-99999
    Published Oct 17, 2026

    PoC for CVE-2026-99999 (PwnEscape) on a prepared TAP.

    Open source ↗
  • GitHub PoCQuaerendir/cve-2026-99999-audit
    Published Oct 17, 2026

    cve-2026-99999-audit script (PwnEscape)

    Open source ↗
  • GitHub checkerMChorfa/csumguard
    Published Oct 16, 2026

    Restricted eBPF TC ingress guard, CO-RE detector, verified loader, and C11 VMM launch supervisor for CVE-2026-99999

    Open source ↗

Frequently asked(5)

What is CVE-2026-99999?
CVE-2026-99999 is a critical-severity vulnerability; its CVE record was published on October 15, 2026. In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ipv4: validate checksum_start before completing checksum If a packet with bad checksum metadata gets into the ipv4 stack, skbchecksumhelp can corrupt the network header and cause a bunch of mischief. This was discovered and…
When was the CVE record for CVE-2026-99999 published?
The CVE record for CVE-2026-99999 was published on October 15, 2026. That is the record's publication date; the vulnerability itself may have been made public earlier. EchelonGraph's copy of the record carries a last-modified date of October 19, 2026; the record at its source may have been updated since.
Is CVE-2026-99999 actively exploited?
CVE-2026-99999 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. FIRST EPSS estimates a 0.2% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days (10th percentile of EPSS-scored CVEs).
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2026-99999?
CVE-2026-99999 has a CVSS base score of 9.3 (a secondary CVSS source that NVD displays; NVD's own analysis pending).
How do I remediate CVE-2026-99999?
A fix for CVE-2026-99999 is available: update to the fixed version the vendor names in its advisory. The vendor advisories EchelonGraph has for CVE-2026-99999 are linked in the Vendor Advisories panel on this page.

Dependency Blast Radius

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