IPsec traffic interruption via misaligned ESN callbacks
Published May 28, 2026 · Updated May 28, 2026
Denial of service in affected Linux Kernel releases allows local users to interrupt IPsec AH traffic when ESN and async hashing are active. The IPv4 and IPv6 AH completion callbacks locate saved authentication data and ICV bytes without skipping the four-byte ESN sequence-high slot, so they copy or compare incorrect offsets. Exploitation requires a configured AH security association with ESN plus an asynchronous hash implementation; the demonstrated result is complete packet loss, not a kernel crash.
Summary
What happened
Denial of service in affected Linux Kernel releases allows local users to interrupt IPsec AH traffic when ESN and async hashing are active. The IPv4 and IPv6 AH completion callbacks locate saved authentication data and ICV bytes without skipping the four-byte ESN sequence-high slot, so they copy or compare incorrect offsets. Exploitation requires a configured AH security association with ESN plus an asynchronous hash implementation; the demonstrated result is complete packet loss, not a kernel crash.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-46193
- Published
- May 28, 2026
- Updated
- May 28, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux Kernel
- Classifications
- T1499
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- May 28, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- May 28, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=3.15
- Affected versionversion=d4d573d0334d07341beffdcf97e2b85d3955d8ae <0555d4f526232b3c9e3afbcd490c0c0793aefec6
- Affected versionversion=d4d573d0334d07341beffdcf97e2b85d3955d8ae <2ffaa7a94f9a4d22724364a1821735a0231d9f8d
- Affected versionversion=d4d573d0334d07341beffdcf97e2b85d3955d8ae <729899a2aa8bda7844be0cdcd3b470f11b912eda
- Affected versionversion=d4d573d0334d07341beffdcf97e2b85d3955d8ae <7db99a09b3bc87268287bc7ab5f2e7f382b5ad87
- Affected versionversion=d4d573d0334d07341beffdcf97e2b85d3955d8ae <ec54093e6a8f87e800bb6aa15eb7fc1e33faa524
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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