In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: virtio_net: Fix misalignment bug in struct virtnet_info Use the new TRAILING_OVERLAP() helper to fix a misalignment bug along with the following warning: drivers/net/virtio_net.c:429:46: warning: structure containing a flexible array member is not at the end of another structure [-Wflex-array-member-not-at-end] This helper creates a union between a flexible-array member (FAM) and a set of members that would otherwise follow it (in this case `u8 rss_hash_key_data[VIRTIO_NET_RSS_MAX_KEY_SIZE];`). This overlays the trailing members (rss_hash_key_data) onto the FAM (hash_key_data) while keeping the FAM and the start of MEMBERS aligned. The static_assert() ensures this alignment remains. Notice that due to tail padding in flexible `struct virtio_net_rss_config_trailer`, `rss_trailer.hash_key_data` (at offset 83 in struct virtnet_info) and `rss_hash_key_data` (at offset 84 in struct virtnet_info) are misaligned by one byte. See below: struct virtio_net_rss_config_trailer { __le16 max_tx_vq; /* 0 2 */ __u8 hash_key_length; /* 2 1 */ __u8 hash_key_data[]; /* 3 0 */ /* size: 4, cachelines: 1, members: 3 */ /* padding: 1 */ /* last cacheline: 4 bytes */ }; struct virtnet_info { ... struct virtio_net_rss_config_trailer rss_trailer; /* 80 4 */ /* XXX last struct has 1 byte of padding */ u8 rss_hash_key_data[40]; /* 84 40 */ ... /* size: 832, cachelines: 13, members: 48 */ /* sum members: 801, holes: 8, sum holes: 31 */ /* paddings: 2, sum paddings: 5 */ }; After changes, those members are correctly aligned at offset 795: struct virtnet_info { ... union { struct virtio_net_rss_config_trailer rss_trailer; /* 792 4 */ struct { unsigned char __offset_to_hash_key_data[3]; /* 792 3 */ u8 rss_hash_key_data[40]; /* 795 40 */ }; /* 792 43 */ }; /* 792 44 */ ... /* size: 840, cachelines: 14, members: 47 */ /* sum members: 801, holes: 8, sum holes: 35 */ /* padding: 4 */ /* paddings: 1, sum paddings: 4 */ /* last cacheline: 8 bytes */ }; As a result, the RSS key passed to the device is shifted by 1 byte: the last byte is cut off, and instead a (possibly uninitialized) byte is added at the beginning. As a last note `struct virtio_net_rss_config_hdr *rss_hdr;` is also moved to the end, since it seems those three members should stick around together. :)
Conclusion & alert: CVE-2026-23143 is rated Low Risk (23.5/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.02%). Mandatory action: Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.
Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.
EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).
| # | Date | Old EPSS score | New EPSS score | Delta (New - Old) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2026-02-15 | — | 0.02% | — |
Full EPSS history (1 record total)
CVSS metrics for this CVE.
| Base score | Version | Severity | Vector | Exploitability | Impact | Score source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5.5 | 3.1 | MEDIUM |
|
1.8 | 3.6 | [email protected] |
| vendor | priority | summary | link |
|---|---|---|---|
debian
|
unimportant | CVE-2026-23143 unimportant priority: Debian including 1 source packages (linux), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. | https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2026-23143 |
redhat
|
low | — | https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-23143 |
suse
|
medium | CVE-2026-23143 severity moderate: SUSE including 26 source package names (cluster-md-kmp-default, dlm-kmp-default, …), 226 product×package rows across 40 product lines (SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP7, SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4-LTSS, … (40 product lines)): Known Not Affected 226. | https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-23143/ |
ubuntu
|
medium | CVE-2026-23143 medium priority: Ubuntu including 157 source packages (linux, linux-allwinner-5.19, …), 1256 status rows across 8 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 871, ignored 165, not-affected 119, released 83, needed 18. | https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2026-23143 |
| Vendor | Product | Version | Raw CPE |
|---|---|---|---|
| linux | linux_kernel | >= 6.15, < 6.18.7 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux | linux_kernel | 6.19 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.19:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux | linux_kernel | 6.19 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.19:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux | linux_kernel | 6.19 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.19:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux | linux_kernel | 6.19 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.19:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux | linux_kernel | 6.19 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.19:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:* |