Kernel crash via stale xfrm segment pointer
Published Aug 10, 2026 · Updated Aug 10, 2026
Use-after-free in the Linux kernel xfrm subsystem allows remote attackers to crash the kernel via crafted network traffic. When async crypto steals the final GSO segment, validate_xmit_xfrm() unlinks it without resetting the list head's prev pointer, and validate_xmit_skb_list() later writes through the freed segment. Exploitation requires an xfrm transmit path that performs asynchronous cryptography on a segmented packet; the resulting stale-pointer write can crash the system or corrupt kernel memory.
Summary
What happened
Use-after-free in the Linux kernel xfrm subsystem allows remote attackers to crash the kernel via crafted network traffic. When async crypto steals the final GSO segment, validate_xmit_xfrm() unlinks it without resetting the list head's prev pointer, and validate_xmit_skb_list() later writes through the freed segment. Exploitation requires an xfrm transmit path that performs asynchronous cryptography on a segmented packet; the resulting stale-pointer write can crash the system or corrupt kernel memory.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-68426
- Published
- Aug 10, 2026
- Updated
- Aug 10, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- CWE-825, T1499.004
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Aug 10, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Aug 10, 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=4.16
- Affected versionversion=f53c723902d1ac5f0b0a11d7c9dcbff748dde74e <33e1b0d25ca0d2818c635ff80e6aa0d295e08a98
- Affected versionversion=f53c723902d1ac5f0b0a11d7c9dcbff748dde74e <3f4c3919baf0944ad96580467c302bc6c7758b00
- Affected versionversion=f53c723902d1ac5f0b0a11d7c9dcbff748dde74e <bbca7cc3b2b4b10afbfee99b81d9ee78f5423046
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
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
No public exploit references are available in this record.
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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