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-2026-99259Unknown
In the Linux kernel, the soc/tegra: pmc driver has an uninitialised early_pmc->rate variable for legacy 32-bit Tegra devices. The variable is never configured and remains 0, triggering a warning in tegra_pmc_enter_suspend_mode(). The issue appeared after the PMC driver was changed to create the PMC context dynamically, updating rate only in the new context.
- CVE-2026-99258Unknown
In the Linux kernel, hv_apicid_to_vp_index() uses per-CPU hypercall input and output pages. In an SEV-SNP CoCo VM without a paravisor the output page is not allocated, so the hypervisor stores the resulting VP index into memory not allocated by the guest. The fix uses the input page for both input and output.
- CVE-2026-99257Unknown
In the Linux kernel, the shared GPIO mechanism based on platform lookup tables requires an associated struct device. An fwnode-based lookup with no associated device currently causes a NULL-pointer dereference. The fix adds a check that lets the kernel gracefully handle this situation with an error.
- CVE-2026-99256Unknown
In the Linux kernel, the dm cache module used a rw_semaphore for background_work_lock, although write locks on rw_semaphores have strict owner semantics. The locking process was not always the same as the unlocking one, triggering a warning with CONFIG_DEBUG_RWSEMS during suspend/resume of a cache device. The fix replaces the rw_semaphore with a spinlock and a wait queue.
- CVE-2026-99251Unknown
In the Linux kernel, init_vp_index() contains a retry loop that strips CPUs from a node if they are already in the allocated cpumask or outside the HK_TYPE_MANAGED_IRQ housekeeping cpumask. If the housekeeping cpumask contains no CPU in that node, the loop becomes infinite. The fix skips NUMA nodes with no housekeeping CPU and aborts early when no online housekeeping CPUs exist.
- CVE-2026-99250Unknown
In the Linux kernel, the NBCON console printing kthreads are started very early during boot via early_initcall(). Asynchronously enabling/disabling interrupts during early boot may interfere with early SMP setup on some hardware platforms, causing hangs. The fix postpones kthread startup until after all arch initcalls have completed.
- CVE-2026-99249Unknown
In the Linux kernel, zap_pid_ns_processes() waiting for PID namespace cleanup was not freezable. A tracer outside the namespace that does not reap its traced zombies keeps PIDs allocated, making the wait unbounded and causing every suspend attempt to fail. The fix makes the wait loops use TASK_FREEZABLE states so the freezer can freeze waiting tasks.
- CVE-2026-99248Unknown
In the Linux kernel, the i2c: xiic driver was changed to restore non-managed runtime PM instead of the devres-based approach to fix a clk WARN flood. The managed release tore down runtime PM in the wrong order, causing the clock to be disabled twice and triggering "clkN already disabled" warnings on every teardown.
- CVE-2026-99247Unknown
In the Linux kernel, if trace buffer allocation fails during early boot, tracing_disabled remains set and the global trace array events list stays uninitialized. tracer_init_tracefs_work_func() runs asynchronously without checking this state and calls event_trace_init() and init_tracer_tracefs(), leading to a NULL pointer dereference Oops during boot. The fix checks tracing_disabled at the start of the work function.
- 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).
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

