CVE-2026-98231
Low risk· EPSS 9%Exploitation Probability (EPSS)
Low risk9th percentile - higher than 9% of all known CVEs
Summary
A use-after-free vulnerability exists in the Linux kernel's xfrm_dev_state_free() during XFRM device state flush. The state GC worker can free the same state concurrently while the flush thread accesses it after dropping the xfrm_state_dev_gc_lock, leading to double driver callback invocation and use of freed memory.
Risk Assessment
A local attacker can trigger a kernel crash (panic) or potentially exploit the use-after-free for privilege escalation. The vulnerability affects systems with active XFRM (IPsec) and can be triggered via network interface operations.
Recommendation
Update the Linux kernel to a version containing the fix that serializes XFRM state destruction against the deferred-device pass using a mutex. If updating is not possible, restrict the ability to change network interface flags to trusted users.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
See all- CVE-2026-99216Unknown
In the Linux kernel, the Hyper-V (hv) driver incorrectly forces the VMBus connection state to DISCONNECTED before calling vmbus_disconnect(). As a result, vmbus_initiate_unload() does not unload the connection because it only acts when the state is CONNECTED, so the Hyper-V host may continue sending messages or posting VMBus interrupts.
- CVE-2026-99215Unknown
In the Linux kernel power supply subsystem, a use-after-free vulnerability exists. If a power supply is unregistered while its external_power_changed() callback is still running, the driver may free data that the callback is still accessing, leading to a kernel crash (NULL pointer dereference).
- CVE-2026-99214Unknown
In the Linux kernel, the drm/vc4 HDMI driver has an ordering issue with Packet RAM enabling. When audio is triggered by the HPD handler before video is restored, vc4_hdmi_write_infoframe() may attempt to store an infoframe while Packet RAM is disabled, causing a kernel warning (splat). The fix moves Packet RAM enable/disable into the Runtime PM hooks.
- CVE-2026-99213Unknown
In the Linux kernel vsock subsystem, the TCP_ESTABLISHED to TCP_CLOSING transition on OP_RST can race with the connect loop. Resetting a socket still present in connected_table can lead to memory corruption, including a double list add and a kernel BUG.
- CVE-2026-99212Unknown
In the Linux kernel net/rds module, rds_rdma_cm_event_handler_cmn() returns the result of rdma_resolve_route() directly to rdma_cm on RDMA_CM_EVENT_ADDR_RESOLVED. A synchronous failure causes the id ic->i_cm_id to be destroyed while RDS still owns it, leading to use of a freed id during connection shutdown.
- CVE-2026-99211Unknown
In the Linux kernel netlink subsystem, socket filters can use SKF_NET_OFF and SKF_LL_OFF to read relative to an skb's network and MAC headers. Netlink producers may reserve headroom without resetting those headers, allowing a receiving socket's filter to read data before the initialized message and disclose memory contents.
- CVE-2026-99210Unknown
In the Linux kernel accel/rocket driver, rocket_probe() stores the return value of rocket_device_init() in the file-scoped rdev pointer before checking whether it is an error pointer. On failure rdev remains an ERR_PTR, and a later probe can skip initialization and dereference the error pointer when reading rdev->num_cores.
- CVE-2026-99209Unknown
In the Linux kernel drm/xe driver, xe_evict_flags() reads tbo->resource->mem_type, but a BO can reach eviction with no ttm.resource, e.g. an imported dma-buf whose resource was freed during teardown. This causes a NULL pointer dereference and a kernel fault.
- CVE-2026-99208Unknown
In the Linux kernel drm/xe/oa driver, ttm_bo_type_kernel BOs are not guaranteed to be zeroed on allocation and may contain data from previously freed pages. Since the OA buffer is mmap'able by userspace, this can expose stale kernel memory contents.
- CVE-2026-99207Unknown
In the Linux kernel's scsi: target subsystem, target_do_delayed_work() acquired delayed_cmd_lock with a plain spin_lock() without disabling interrupts, while all other acquisition sites use spin_lock_irqsave(). Since commands can now complete in interrupt context (complete_type=1 with direct_compl_supp), this can cause a deadlock when a completion arrives on the same CPU where the work item holds the lock.
Original NVD description (English source)
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: xfrm: serialize state GC with device state flush The deferred-device pass in xfrm_dev_state_flush() finds states under xfrm_state_dev_gc_lock, but drops the lock before calling xfrm_dev_state_free() because the driver callback may sleep. The device GC list does not hold an xfrm_state reference, so the state GC worker can destroy the same state concurrently. The race can proceed as follows: CPU 0 CPU 1 find x on the device GC list drop xfrm_state_dev_gc_lock read x->xso.dev xfrm_state_gc_destroy(x) xfrm_dev_state_free(x) xfrm_state_free(x) continue xfrm_dev_state_free(x) Both paths can invoke the driver callback and drop the device reference. CPU 0 can also access the xfrm_state after CPU 1 has freed it. KASAN reported: BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in xfrm_dev_state_free+0x24c/0x2a0 Read of size 8 at addr ffff88810bbaa960 by task poc/102 Call Trace: xfrm_dev_state_free+0x24c/0x2a0 xfrm_dev_state_flush+0x353/0x400 xfrm_dev_event+0x26d/0x3a0 notifier_call_chain+0xc0/0x280 __dev_notify_flags+0x169/0x250 netif_change_flags+0xe7/0x160 dev_change_flags+0x96/0x220 devinet_ioctl+0x7f4/0x1880 Allocated by task 87: xfrm_state_alloc+0x1e/0x5c0 xfrm_add_sa+0xe7f/0x5820 xfrm_user_rcv_msg+0x4f3/0x940 Freed by task 57: kmem_cache_free+0xcb/0x3d0 xfrm_state_gc_task+0x4a8/0x650 process_one_work+0x63a/0x1070 Serialize xfrm_state destruction against the deferred-device pass with a mutex. Keep xfrm_state_dev_gc_lock limited to list operations and retain the existing callback and device-reference release ordering.
Vulnerability data from NVD (NIST) · CISA KEV · EPSS

