Cybersecurity professionals consider CVE-2026-72021 an immediate threat requiring urgent mitigation.
Status: Received on 15 Aug 2026, 06:21 UTC
Last updated: 🕕 17 Aug 2026, 06:17 UTC
Originally published on: 🕕 15 Aug 2026, 06:21 UTC
Time between publication and last update: 1 days
CVSS Release: version 3
416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
Secondary
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:H
CVE-2026-72021: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ipvs: use parsed transport offset in SCTP state lookup set_sctp_state() reads the SCTP chunk header again in order to drive the IPVS SCTP state table. For IPv6 it computes the offset with sizeof(struct ipv6hdr), while the surrounding IPVS code uses iph.len from ip_vs_fill_iph_skb(), where ipv6_find_hdr() has already skipped extension headers and found the real transport header. This makes the state machine read from the wrong offset for IPv6 SCTP packets that carry extension headers. For example, an INIT packet with an 8-byte destination options header can be scheduled correctly by sctp_conn_schedule(), but set_sctp_state() reads the first byte of the SCTP verification tag as a DATA chunk type. The connection then moves from NONE to ESTABLISHED instead of INIT1, gets the longer established timeout, and updates the active/inactive destination counters incorrectly. This happens even though the SCTP handshake has not completed. Use the parsed transport offset passed down from ip_vs_set_state() for the SCTP chunk-header lookup. For IPv4 and IPv6 packets without extension headers this preserves the existing offset.
The exploitability of CVE-2026-72021 depends on two key factors: attack complexity (the level of effort required to execute an exploit) and privileges required (the access level an attacker needs).
With low attack complexity and no required privileges, CVE-2026-72021 is an easy target for cybercriminals. Organizations should prioritize immediate mitigation measures to prevent unauthorized access and data breaches.
A lower complexity and fewer privilege requirements make exploitation easier. Security teams should evaluate these aspects to determine the urgency of mitigation strategies, such as patch management and access control policies.
Attack Complexity (AC) measures the difficulty in executing an exploit. A high AC means that specific conditions must be met, making an attack more challenging, while a low AC means the vulnerability can be exploited with minimal effort.
Privileges Required (PR) determine the level of system access necessary for an attack. Vulnerabilities requiring no privileges are more accessible to attackers, whereas high privilege requirements limit exploitation to authorized users with elevated access.
Above is the CVSS Sub-score Breakdown for CVE-2026-72021, illustrating how Base, Impact, and Exploitability factors combine to form the overall severity rating. A higher sub-score typically indicates a more severe or easier-to-exploit vulnerability.
Below is the Impact Analysis for CVE-2026-72021, showing how Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability might be affected if the vulnerability is exploited. Higher values usually signal greater potential damage.
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