CVE-2026-97472

Summary

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

ipv6: addrconf: fix temp address generation after prefix deprecation

When a router temporarily deprecates an IPv6 prefix (either by sending a Router Advertisement with Preferred Lifetime = 0 or by letting the lifetime expire) and later restores it, the kernel permanently loses its ability to generate temporary privacy addresses (RFC 8981) for that prefix.

This happens because the address worker attempts to generate a replacement temporary address when the current one nears expiration. As the base prefix is deprecated already, the generation fails after marking the temporary address as already having spawned a replacement (ifp->regen_count++).

When the router eventually restores the prefix, the temporary address becomes active again. However, once it naturally expires, the address worker sees this temporary address already tried to generate one and skips the regeneration.

Fix the issue by resetting the regen_count check of the latest temp address generated for the prefix updated by the incoming RA.

Affected Software

VendorProductVersion RangeStatus
LinuxLinux1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 < bff7b87dfa28a1502c18d0c6f1fadda5162fa854affected
LinuxLinux1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 < 4df5597c65446135362f72880995e8920f058fa0affected
LinuxLinux1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 < e20d8922aa8fe441d291364c96c2179a005b79eaaffected
LinuxLinux0 < 6.12.111affected
LinuxLinux0 < 6.18.53affected
LinuxLinux6.12.111 <= 6.12.*unaffected
LinuxLinux6.18.53 <= 6.18.*unaffected
LinuxLinux7.2 <= *unaffected

Weaknesses

References