A use‑after‑free vulnerability exists in the Linux kernel’s ILA transport checksum adjustment routine. The code caches a pointer to the IPv6 header before a potential reallocation, then later dereferences that stale pointer after the buffer has been freed. This can cause the kernel to read and modify memory that no longer belongs to the packet, leading to a slab-use-after-free condition exposed by KASAN. Depending on the specific kernel configuration, this flaw can allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges or cause a system crash.

The vulnerability affects any Linux kernel that includes the ILA module as described. No specific kernel versions are listed, so vendors and system administrators should treat all current and supported kernel releases that contain the mentioned code paths as potentially impacted until an official patch is applied.

The flaw is triggered by an unauthenticated IPv6 packet once a privileged configuration is in place, requiring any attacker who can send such packets to a target that has an ILA csum‑adjust‑transport route or mapping. While no EPSS score is currently available and the vulnerability is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog, the nature of a kernel use‑after‑free combined with remote network input strongly suggests a high likelihood of denial of service or remote code execution if exploited. The absence of a published CVSS score indicates that the exact severity has not been quantified publicly, but the high impact potential warrants proactive remediation.