The IPFire team has announced the release of IPFire 2.29 Core Update 205, an emergency security update for the open-source Linux-based firewall distribution.
This urgent release is driven by CVE-2026-98432, a use-after-free vulnerability in the Linux kernel’s TCP stack. Since IPFire relies on the Linux networking stack to handle traffic, the issue is especially relevant to systems running the firewall distribution.
According to the developers, the vulnerability is serious enough that administrators should not postpone installing the update until their next maintenance window.
Core Update 205 upgrades the Linux kernel to version 6.18.60 to address the issue. This is the only package included, making the update considerably smaller than a typical IPFire release.
Besides fixing the TCP vulnerability, the updated kernel also resolves a crash affecting the Broadcom network driver, which could impact systems using the affected hardware.
Because this update replaces the running kernel, a system reboot is required after installation. The security fixes take effect only after the firewall restarts.
Administrators can install Core Update 205 through IPFire’s web-based management interface or by using the pakfire package manager.
One important clarification concerns the changes originally scheduled for Core Update 205. The IPFire team has moved those planned improvements to Core Update 206, which is already available for testing. This lets the emergency security fix reach users without waiting for the broader update to finish.
For more information, see the announcement.
