Security Advisory

CVE-2026-74659: Linux Kernel Uninitialised Bytes on the Wire in Bridge MRP Test Frames

Uninitialised bytes on the wire in bridge MRP test frames leak kernel memory to the network.

Overview

The Linux bridge implementation of Media Redundancy Protocol builds its periodic test frames on a socket buffer whose data area is not cleared. On the ring-manager branch, the sub-option TLV header is appended without writing its length field, and two alignment bytes are appended without clearing them.

Every MRP test frame from a ring manager leaves the kernel with three bytes of whatever was in that memory. The fix appends the header and padding with a single zeroing call.

Affected products

  • Linux kernel 5.14 through 5.15.215, 6.1.182, 6.6.151, 6.12.103, 6.18.44 and 7.1.8

Disclosure timeline

22 Aug 2026
CVE-2026-74659 published by the Linux kernel CVE team; stable fixes released