Integer Underflow in Wicked DHCPv4 Client Affects Network Security

CVE-2026-71401

What is CVE-2026-71401?

An integer underflow vulnerability has been identified in the DHCPv4 packet capture code of the Wicked DHCP client. The issue arises within the function ni_capture_inspect_udp_header() where the IP total length field is not adequately checked against the IP header length. This oversight allows an unauthenticated attacker on the same network to potentially manipulate network traffic, resulting in an out-of-bounds read past the receive buffer. Such exploitation could lead to instability in the wicked DHCPv4 client (wickedd-dhcp4), possibly causing the daemon to crash based on the process's memory layout. Currently, no data disclosure risks have been associated with this vulnerability. Users are urged to review their versions and consider updates to mitigate potential attacks.

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