CVE-2026-16515

MEDIUMPre-NVD 4.74.7
EchelonGraph scoreLOW confidence

This medium-severity CVE scores 4.7 under a secondary CVSS source (NVD's own analysis pending). EPSS exploit-prediction score not yet available (the EPSS model rescores nightly; freshly-published CVEs typically appear within 48 hours). GitHub Security Advisory data not yet ingested — confidence will rise once GHSA publishes (typical lag: hours to days for open-source ecosystem CVEs; never for infrastructure-only CVEs).

Triggered by: NVD CVSS baseline
Sources: secondary
4.7EG
EchelonGraph verdictMonitorLow exploitation likelihood right now — keep watching.
  • Lower severity and no public exploit yet
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS PROB: CVSS: 4.7Exploit: None knownExposed: 0

No vendor fix yet — apply a workaround or compensating control (WAF / firewall / segmentation) and watch for a patch.

net_icmpv6_send_error() in subsys/net/ip/icmpv6.c implemented only one of the three RFC 4443 section 2.4 suppression rules (do not answer an ICMPv6 error with an ICMPv6 error). It did not check whether the triggering packet's source address identifies a single node (rule e.6) or whether the packet was sent to a multicast destination (rule e.3, whose only exceptions are Packet Too Big and Parameter Problem Code 2). Of the five call sites, only the port-unreachable path in subsys/net/ip/connection.c carried an equivalent guard of its own; the extension-header, unknown-next-header and fragmentation paths in subsys/net/ip/ipv6.c and subsys/net/ip/ipv6_fragment.c had none.

An unauthenticated attacker with access to the same link can exploit this in two ways. Sending a single IPv6 packet to the link-local all-nodes group ff02::1 carrying an unrecognized next-header value, with the source address spoofed to a chosen victim, causes every Zephyr node on the link to emit an ICMPv6 Parameter Problem message to that victim — a reflector with an amplification factor equal to the number of nodes. Alternatively, sending a unicast packet whose source address is a multicast address causes the node to transmit its ICMPv6 error to that multicast address, turning one unicast packet into a link-flooded multicast frame. Packets addressed to ff02::1 are accepted unconditionally by ipv6_input(), and no check rejects a multicast source address, so no special configuration is required.

The impact is degraded availability of the shared link and of the reflection victim, together with the ability for the attacker to hide its own address behind the responding nodes. The effect is amplified on constrained mesh links such as 802.15.4/Thread, where link-local multicast is flooded hop by hop. There is no memory-safety consequence: the error packet itself is well formed, it is simply emitted in cases where the protocol forbids it.

The fix adds both suppression checks at the single choke point in net_icmpv6_send_error(), before any reply packet is allocated, preserving the RFC-mandated exceptions for NET_ICMPV6_PACKET_TOO_BIG and Parameter Problem Code 2. Note that the IPv4 counterpart net_icmpv4_send_error() in subsys/net/ip/icmpv4.c still checks only for a broadcast destination and retains an equivalent gap for multicast destinations and non-unique sources.

CVSS v3
4.7
EG Score
4.7(low)
EG Risk
21(Track)
EG Risk 21/100SSVC: Track

EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score: it fuses intrinsic severity with real-world exploitation and automatability so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner. Distinct from the 0–10 EG Score (severity).

How it’s computed
Severity47% × 45%
Exploitation0% × 40%
Automatability0% × 15%
Action: Routine — remediate on your standard cadence.
EPSS PROB
EPSS %ILE
KEV
Not listed

Published

September 18, 2026

Last Modified

September 18, 2026

Advisory Details (2)

Auto-updated Sep 18, 2026
Patch available. Sources: github_commit, github.
github Patch Available

ICMPv6 error messages sent for multicast-destined packets and non-unique source addresses enable network amplification in Zephyr's IPv6 stack · Advisory · zephyrproject-rtos/zephyr · GitHub

https://github.com/zephyrproject-rtos/zephyr/security/advisories/GHSA-v5vw-m78m-h46g
github_commit

commit ba4247b24ddd (zephyrproject-rtos/zephyr)

Fix landed in zephyrproject-rtos/zephyr commit ba4247b24ddd — awaiting tagged release

https://github.com/zephyrproject-rtos/zephyr/commit/ba4247b24ddd3a5360b617e3ca17131ca9e8026a

Weakness Classification(1)

MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 5× in last 7d / 5× in last 30d)

Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.

  1. 2026-09-18 17:26 UTCEG score recompute
  2. 2026-09-18 16:29 UTCEG score recompute
  3. 2026-09-18 15:24 UTCEG score recompute
  4. 2026-09-18 14:34 UTCEG score recompute
  5. 2026-09-18 14:34 UTCMITRE cvelistV5first tracked

Frequently asked(4)

What is CVE-2026-16515?
CVE-2026-16515 is a medium vulnerability published on September 18, 2026. neticmpv6senderror() in subsys/net/ip/icmpv6.c implemented only one of the three RFC 4443 section 2.4 suppression rules (do not answer an ICMPv6 error with an ICMPv6 error). It did not check whether the triggering packet's source address identifies a single node (rule e.6) or whether the packet was…
When was CVE-2026-16515 disclosed?
CVE-2026-16515 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on September 18, 2026. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2026-16515?
CVE-2026-16515 has a CVSS v3 base score of 4.7 (NVD). The EG score is currently aggregating — additional source signals are being incorporated as they become available..
How do I remediate CVE-2026-16515?
Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2026-16515, EchelonGraph cross-links them in the Vendor Advisories panel below — those typically contain the canonical remediation steps, fixed version numbers, and any vendor-specific mitigations.

Dependency Blast Radius

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