Local denial of service via serialized RCU waits
Published Jul 25, 2026 · Updated Jul 25, 2026
Denial of service in affected Linux Kernel releases allows local users to exhaust memory by rapidly creating network namespaces. The xfrm_policy_fini() exit handler performs a blocking synchronize_rcu() once per namespace, serializing full RCU grace periods during batched cleanup. Sustained unshare(CLONE_NEWNET) activity is required; cleanup_net() can stall, kernel objects and per-CPU memory accumulate, and memory-control-group OOMs follow.
Summary
What happened
Denial of service in affected Linux Kernel releases allows local users to exhaust memory by rapidly creating network namespaces. The xfrm_policy_fini() exit handler performs a blocking synchronize_rcu() once per namespace, serializing full RCU grace periods during batched cleanup. Sustained unshare(CLONE_NEWNET) activity is required; cleanup_net() can stall, kernel objects and per-CPU memory accumulate, and memory-control-group OOMs follow.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-64525
- Published
- Jul 25, 2026
- Updated
- Jul 25, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux Kernel
- Classifications
- T1499.001
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Jul 25, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Jul 25, 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=069daad4f2ae9c5c108131995529d5f02392c446 <3e52417318473782012b236d0325bf7d2266a597
- Affected versionversion=069daad4f2ae9c5c108131995529d5f02392c446 <d14ae8ef88c2c6590e107db61b6adce148cec7b3
- Affected versionversion=33a3149dd81a1e2f52b80ee1e0fc380b39f3d028
- Affected versionversion=3733fce2871c9bca9dd18a1a23b1432ea215a094 <91cc13978ab0bc6f669139f53e7e613a860d10e0
- Affected versionversion=438b1f668ad58f46ce699bb48e4698a7839e3f9e <bca6386dc08750fc7cdcbc7683473748ba3114b9
- Affected versionversion=6.12.83 <6.12.93
- Affected versionversion=6.18.24 <6.18.35
- Affected versionversion=6.19.14 <6.20
- Affected versionversion=6.6.136 <6.7
- Affected versionversion=7.0
- Affected versionversion=b66920a3348c0f63ba18365248fa21fbf0b3a937
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
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Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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