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CVE-2026-43496

5.5 · MEDIUM

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net/sched: sch_red: Replace direct dequeue call with peek and qdisc_dequeue_peeked When red qdisc has children (eg qfq qdisc) w…

Published May 21, 2026CWE-476EPSS 0.17%

Overview

CVE-2026-43496 is a medium-severity vulnerability. It was published on May 21, 2026 and has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 5.5 (MEDIUM).

This vulnerability has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 5.5, rated MEDIUM. It requires local or adjacent network access to exploit. Some level of privileges is required for exploitation.

Technical description

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

net/sched: sch_red: Replace direct dequeue call with peek and qdisc_dequeue_peeked

When red qdisc has children (eg qfq qdisc) whose peek() callback is

qdisc_peek_dequeued(), we could get a kernel panic. When the parent of such

qdiscs (eg illustrated in patch #3 as tbf) wants to retrieve an skb from

its child (red in this case), it will do the following:

1a. do a peek() - and when sensing there's an skb the child can offer, then

- the child in this case(red) calls its child's (qfq) peek.

qfq does the right thing and will return the gso_skb queue packet.

Note: if there wasnt a gso_skb entry then qfq will store it there.

1b. invoke a dequeue() on the child (red). And herein lies the problem.

- red will call the child's dequeue() which will essentially just

try to grab something of qfq's queue.

[ 78.667668][ T363] KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000048-0x000000000000004f

Remediation

Check the references section for vendor advisories, patches, and mitigation guidance. If immediate patching is not possible, review the CVSS vector to understand the attack surface and apply compensating controls such as network segmentation or access restrictions.

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-43496?

CVE-2026-43496 is a medium-severity vulnerability. It was published on May 21, 2026 and has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 5.5 (MEDIUM).

How severe is CVE-2026-43496?

This vulnerability has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 5.5, rated MEDIUM. It requires local or adjacent network access to exploit. Some level of privileges is required for exploitation.

How do I fix or remediate CVE-2026-43496?

Check the references section for vendor advisories, patches, and mitigation guidance. If immediate patching is not possible, review the CVSS vector to understand the attack surface and apply compensating controls such as network segmentation or access restrictions.

How can CyberStrike help with CVE-2026-43496?

CyberStrike is an open-source, AI-augmented pentesting engine. Rather than flag a version number, it tests whether an issue like CVE-2026-43496 is actually reachable in your own applications and APIs, then verifies each finding before reporting it. That tells you if the weakness is a real, exploitable risk in your environment or a false positive you can safely deprioritize.

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