CVE-2026-129456
Received Received - Intake

Memory Corruption in FRRouting bgpd via BGP Tunnel Encapsulation

Vulnerability report for CVE-2026-129456, including description, CVSS score, EPSS score, affected products, exploitability, helpful resources, and attack-flow context.

Publication date: 2026-11-14

Last updated on: 2026-11-14

Assigner: 57a55968-44ac-464c-a794-6ba3baad09c4

Description

In FRRouting, bgpd accepts a Tunnel Encapsulation attribute (type 23) whose outer TLV length does not match the length of the attribute: the mismatch is only logged and the attribute is processed anyway. A BGP neighbor can send UPDATE messages carrying such an attribute that put the reference count of the attribute's interned sub-TLV chain out of balance, so that the chain is freed while routes stored by bgpd (Adj-RIB-In entries and RIB paths) still point to it. When those routes are later replaced, withdrawn or cleared, for example when the session goes down, bgpd reads the freed memory, decrements a reference count inside it and frees it a second time. In the reporter's build without AddressSanitizer this ended in an assertion failure in bgpd's memory accounting, aborting bgpd and dropping all BGP sessions on the router, and the neighbor can repeat it each time bgpd restarts. Because freed heap memory is written to and freed again, consequences beyond a crash cannot be ruled out. An established BGP session is required. bgpd processes attribute 23 from every neighbor, including eBGP neighbors, unless it is explicitly discarded, although RFC 9012 requires it to be filtered on eBGP sessions by default. The issue was reproduced with "soft-reconfiguration inbound" configured for the neighbor, and the reporter observed that the crash does not occur on every attempt.

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Meta Information

Published
2026-11-14
Last Modified
2026-11-14
Generated
2026-11-15
AI Q&A
2026-11-14
EPSS Evaluated
N/A
NVD
EUVD

Affected Vendors & Products

Showing 1 associated CPE
Vendor Product Version / Range
frrouting frr to up_to_the_patched_commit (exc)

Helpful Resources

Exploitability

CWE
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KEV
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CWE ID Description
CWE-416 The product reuses or references memory after it has been freed. At some point afterward, the memory may be allocated again and saved in another pointer, while the original pointer references a location somewhere within the new allocation. Any operations using the original pointer are no longer valid because the memory "belongs" to the code that operates on the new pointer.
CWE-415 The product calls free() twice on the same memory address.

Attack-Flow Graph

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Executive Summary

This vulnerability is a heap use-after-free issue in the FRRouting (FRR) bgpd daemon related to tunnel encapsulation attributes. It occurs when bgpd processes malformed BGP packets, such as those generated during fuzzing, which trigger an AddressSanitizer (ASAN) error. The issue arises when memory is freed but later accessed in the `encap_unintern` function in `bgpd/bgp_attr.c`, leading to crashes or potential arbitrary code execution. The root cause is improper boundary checks when parsing the tunnel encapsulation attribute length, allowing attackers to manipulate memory management.

Detection Guidance

Monitor bgpd logs for AddressSanitizer (ASAN) errors or assertion failures related to memory management in FRRouting. Check for crashes in bgpd during BGP session handling or route processing. Use tools like tcpdump to capture malformed BGP UPDATE messages with Tunnel Encapsulation attributes (type 23) that may trigger the issue.

Impact Analysis

This vulnerability can cause bgpd to crash, dropping all BGP sessions on the router. An attacker could exploit it by sending specially crafted BGP UPDATE messages to trigger a denial-of-service (DoS) condition. The crash may not occur immediately, requiring multiple attempts, but it can disrupt network routing and connectivity. Since freed heap memory is involved, consequences beyond a crash cannot be ruled out.

Compliance Impact

This vulnerability primarily causes denial-of-service conditions by crashing the bgpd daemon, which could disrupt network operations and data processing. While it does not directly expose personal data, prolonged downtime may impact systems handling regulated data under GDPR or HIPAA, potentially leading to compliance violations if critical services are affected.

Mitigation Strategies

Upgrade FRRouting to the latest patched version that includes fixes for CVE-2026-129456. Disable processing of Tunnel Encapsulation attributes (type 23) on eBGP sessions if not required. Apply strict input validation for BGP UPDATE messages. Restart bgpd to clear any corrupted memory states.

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