CVE-2026-98229 PUBLISHED

xfrm: save input state data before secpath resets

Assigner: Linux
Reserved: 25.09.2026 Published: 06.10.2026 Updated: 06.10.2026

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

xfrm: save input state data before secpath resets

xfrm_input() stores the current xfrm_state in the skb secpath while it continues receive-side processing. Some input paths can reset that secpath before xfrm_input() has finished dereferencing the state.

Receive callback users such as VTI and XFRM interfaces can reset the secpath. The VTI receive path does so before checking whether the packet crosses network namespaces, while the XFRM interface path does so only for cross-network-namespace packets. The XFRM_MAX_DEPTH error path can also reset the secpath before the final drop callback reports the current state's protocol.

If secpath_reset() drops the last state reference while the state is concurrently deleted, xfrm_input() can still dereference the freed state when selecting transport_finish() or reporting the drop callback protocol.

Save the state protocol on the stack while the state is still valid, and use the already saved address family for transport_finish(). A larval XFRM_STATE_ACQ state has no type, so retain nexthdr as its protocol. This preserves the existing drop-path fallback while avoiding the post-reset state dereferences without adding an extra state reference to every received packet.

Product Status

Vendor Linux
Product Linux
Versions Default: unaffected
  • affected from df3893c176e9b0bb39b28ab5ec8113fa20ad1ee0 to 35de97850987b3d022ed17df5b2577242e746daf (excl.)
  • affected from df3893c176e9b0bb39b28ab5ec8113fa20ad1ee0 to 148db154066b066616b82c12d373e786eba1f96a (excl.)
  • affected from df3893c176e9b0bb39b28ab5ec8113fa20ad1ee0 to 537a5ae18b2be70f8eb0aca843682e81a69aab91 (excl.)
  • affected from df3893c176e9b0bb39b28ab5ec8113fa20ad1ee0 to 3cf5cdecd99c9c186a5ea518d93bbf3045b6e3aa (excl.)
Vendor Linux
Product Linux
Versions Default: affected
  • Version 3.15 is affected
  • unaffected from 0 to 3.15 (excl.)
  • unaffected from 6.12.112 to 6.12.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 6.18.54 to 6.18.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 7.2.8 to 7.2.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 7.3-rc4 to * (incl.)

References