CVE-2026-43336 PUBLISHED

lib/crypto: chacha: Zeroize permuted_state before it leaves scope

Assigner: Linux
Reserved: 01.05.2026 Published: 08.05.2026 Updated: 08.05.2026

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

lib/crypto: chacha: Zeroize permuted_state before it leaves scope

Since the ChaCha permutation is invertible, the local variable 'permuted_state' is sufficient to compute the original 'state', and thus the key, even after the permutation has been done.

While the kernel is quite inconsistent about zeroizing secrets on the stack (and some prominent userspace crypto libraries don't bother at all since it's not guaranteed to work anyway), the kernel does try to do it as a best practice, especially in cases involving the RNG.

Thus, explicitly zeroize 'permuted_state' before it goes out of scope.

Product Status

Vendor Linux
Product Linux
Versions Default: unaffected
  • affected from c08d0e647305c3f8f640010a56c9e4bafb9488d3 to e90ee961af515a484f091678ce58a4c3f7b73b02 (excl.)
  • affected from c08d0e647305c3f8f640010a56c9e4bafb9488d3 to b416a4245f04a450c67a13e6d96056c37c5b33fe (excl.)
  • affected from c08d0e647305c3f8f640010a56c9e4bafb9488d3 to bd62d9b44464a6c20a34a74068e7a784d0afa04a (excl.)
  • affected from c08d0e647305c3f8f640010a56c9e4bafb9488d3 to 066c760acead1fb743bae294dbd89f479ae43b9b (excl.)
  • affected from c08d0e647305c3f8f640010a56c9e4bafb9488d3 to 1d761e5a7340c46479fb2399598f331e4fe2c633 (excl.)
  • affected from c08d0e647305c3f8f640010a56c9e4bafb9488d3 to 1933249263c3a98df79992f61a566476e4163bcc (excl.)
  • affected from c08d0e647305c3f8f640010a56c9e4bafb9488d3 to 91999af43ca2125e3b2c18fcfc02912ada02efc3 (excl.)
  • affected from c08d0e647305c3f8f640010a56c9e4bafb9488d3 to e5046823f8fa3677341b541a25af2fcb99a5b1e0 (excl.)
Vendor Linux
Product Linux
Versions Default: affected
  • Version 4.2 is affected
  • unaffected from 0 to 4.2 (excl.)
  • unaffected from 5.10.253 to 5.10.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 5.15.203 to 5.15.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 6.1.169 to 6.1.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 6.6.135 to 6.6.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 6.12.82 to 6.12.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 6.18.22 to 6.18.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 6.19.12 to 6.19.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 7.0 to * (incl.)

References