CVE-2026-68426 PUBLISHED

xfrm: fix stale skb->prev after async crypto steals a GSO segment

Assigner: Linux
Reserved: 30.07.2026 Published: 10.08.2026 Updated: 10.08.2026

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

xfrm: fix stale skb->prev after async crypto steals a GSO segment

skb_gso_segment() leaves the segment list head with ->prev pointing at the last segment, an invariant validate_xmit_skb_list() relies on when it sets its tail pointer (tail = skb->prev).

When validate_xmit_xfrm() walks a GSO list and some segments are stolen by async crypto (->xmit() returns -EINPROGRESS), those segments are unlinked from the list but the head ->prev is never updated. If the last segment is the one stolen, the returned head still has ->prev pointing at it, even though it is now owned by the crypto engine and may be freed. validate_xmit_skb_list() later does tail->next = skb, writing through that stale pointer -- a use-after-free.

Repoint skb->prev at the last retained segment before returning.

Product Status

Vendor Linux
Product Linux
Versions Default: unaffected
  • affected from f53c723902d1ac5f0b0a11d7c9dcbff748dde74e to 33e1b0d25ca0d2818c635ff80e6aa0d295e08a98 (excl.)
  • affected from f53c723902d1ac5f0b0a11d7c9dcbff748dde74e to bbca7cc3b2b4b10afbfee99b81d9ee78f5423046 (excl.)
  • affected from f53c723902d1ac5f0b0a11d7c9dcbff748dde74e to 3f4c3919baf0944ad96580467c302bc6c7758b00 (excl.)
Vendor Linux
Product Linux
Versions Default: affected
  • Version 4.16 is affected
  • unaffected from 0 to 4.16 (excl.)
  • unaffected from 6.18.42 to 6.18.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 7.1.6 to 7.1.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 7.2-rc4 to * (incl.)

References