A race exists between the SLIP driver’s buffer reallocation routine and its receive processing path; when the network interface MTU is changed, the driver may allocate a smaller receive buffer while the receive code continues writing using the old, larger bounds. The resulting out‑of‑bounds write can corrupt memory, leading to unstable kernel state. The CVE description does not claim arbitrary code execution or denial of service, only that the write can corrupt memory.

Any Linux kernel installation that includes the SLIP driver is affected. The CNA vendor list lists Linux:Linux and the CPE string covers all kernel variants. No specific version ranges are enumerated, so current releases without the patch are potentially vulnerable.

The flaw carries a CVSS score of 7.8, denoting high severity. An EPSS score of less than 1% indicates a low probability of exploitation in the wild, and the item is not listed in CISA’s KEV catalog. The likely attack scenario would require an entity capable of modifying the MTU on a SLIP interface and generating traffic that triggers the receive path; this inference follows from the description of the race condition between MTU changes and buffer writes, though explicit exploit details are not provided.