CVE-2026-64459 (GCVE-0-2026-64459)
Vulnerability from cvelistv5 – Published: 2026-07-25 08:51 – Updated: 2026-07-25 08:51
VLAI
EPSS
VEX
Title
tcp: restore RCU grace period in tcp_ao_destroy_sock
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
tcp: restore RCU grace period in tcp_ao_destroy_sock
Commit 51e547e8c89c ("tcp: Free TCP-AO/TCP-MD5 info/keys without RCU")
removed the call_rcu() callback from tcp_ao_destroy_sock(), arguing that
"the destruction of info/keys is delayed until the socket destructor"
and therefore "no one can discover it anymore".
That argument does not hold for the call site in tcp_connect()
(net/ipv4/tcp_output.c:4327-4332). At that point the socket is in
TCP_SYN_SENT, has already been inserted into the inet ehash by
inet_hash_connect() in tcp_v4_connect(), and is therefore very much
discoverable: any softirq running tcp_v4_rcv() on another CPU can take
the socket out of the ehash, walk into tcp_inbound_hash(), and load
tp->ao_info via implicit RCU before bh_lock_sock_nested() is taken on
the destroying CPU.
The reader path then enters __tcp_ao_do_lookup() (net/ipv4/tcp_ao.c:208)
which re-loads tp->ao_info via rcu_dereference_check(); the re-load can
still observe the (about-to-be-freed) pointer because there is no
synchronize_rcu() between rcu_assign_pointer(tp->ao_info, NULL) and
tcp_ao_info_free() in tcp_ao_destroy_sock(). The captured pointer is
then walked at line 223:
hlist_for_each_entry_rcu(key, &ao->head, node, ...)
The writer's synchronous kfree() is free to complete between the line
218 re-fetch and the line 223 hlist iteration. The slab is reused
(or simply LIST_POISON1-stamped if not yet reused) and the iteration
walks attacker-controlled or poison memory in softirq context.
Reproducer (no debug shim, stock x86_64 v7.1-rc2 SMP+KASAN, QEMU+KVM):
an unprivileged uid=1000 process inside CLONE_NEWUSER|CLONE_NEWNET
installs TCP_MD5SIG + TCP_AO_ADD_KEY on a TCP socket, sprays forged
TCP-AO segments toward its eventual 4-tuple via raw sockets, then
calls connect(). The md5-wins reconciliation in tcp_connect() fires
tcp_ao_destroy_sock(); the softirq backlog reader on the loopback
NAPI path crashes on the freed ao->head.first walk:
Oops: general protection fault, probably for non-canonical
address 0xfbd59c000000002f
KASAN: maybe wild-memory-access in range
[0xdead000000000178-0xdead00000000017f]
CPU: 0 UID: 1000 PID: 100 Comm: repro_userns
RIP: 0010:__tcp_ao_do_lookup+0x107/0x1c0
Call Trace: <IRQ>
__tcp_ao_do_lookup+0x107/0x1c0
tcp_ao_inbound_lookup.constprop.0+0x12a/0x200
tcp_inbound_ao_hash+0x5ea/0x1520
tcp_inbound_hash+0x7ce/0x1240
tcp_v4_rcv+0x1e7a/0x3e10
...
Restore the RCU grace period: re-add struct rcu_head to tcp_ao_info
and replace the synchronous tcp_ao_info_free() with a call_rcu()
callback. Readers that captured tp->ao_info before rcu_assign_pointer
NULLed it now see the object remain valid until rcu_read_unlock().
With the patch applied the reproducer runs cleanly for 2000 iterations
on the same kernel build.
Severity
No CVSS data available.
Assigner
References
Impacted products
2 products
| Vendor | Product | Version | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Linux | Linux |
Affected:
51e547e8c89c661f6fbede4a28b1d33b13625683 , < 657646c08c94ef7b9dbe468fe7828032216f9841
(git)
Affected: 51e547e8c89c661f6fbede4a28b1d33b13625683 , < 4caf12c778fed3dc3824cf36263be5e2c491fbd0 (git) Affected: 51e547e8c89c661f6fbede4a28b1d33b13625683 , < 8bc4d43bccbd60efe85d0a44d5bf41762f2f0c30 (git) |
|
| Linux | Linux |
Affected:
6.18
Unaffected: 0 , < 6.18 (semver) Unaffected: 6.18.39 , ≤ 6.18.* (semver) Unaffected: 7.1.4 , ≤ 7.1.* (semver) Unaffected: 7.2-rc2 , ≤ * (original_commit_for_fix) |
{
"containers": {
"cna": {
"affected": [
{
"defaultStatus": "unaffected",
"product": "Linux",
"programFiles": [
"include/net/tcp_ao.h",
"net/ipv4/tcp_ao.c"
],
"repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
"vendor": "Linux",
"versions": [
{
"lessThan": "657646c08c94ef7b9dbe468fe7828032216f9841",
"status": "affected",
"version": "51e547e8c89c661f6fbede4a28b1d33b13625683",
"versionType": "git"
},
{
"lessThan": "4caf12c778fed3dc3824cf36263be5e2c491fbd0",
"status": "affected",
"version": "51e547e8c89c661f6fbede4a28b1d33b13625683",
"versionType": "git"
},
{
"lessThan": "8bc4d43bccbd60efe85d0a44d5bf41762f2f0c30",
"status": "affected",
"version": "51e547e8c89c661f6fbede4a28b1d33b13625683",
"versionType": "git"
}
]
},
{
"defaultStatus": "affected",
"product": "Linux",
"programFiles": [
"include/net/tcp_ao.h",
"net/ipv4/tcp_ao.c"
],
"repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
"vendor": "Linux",
"versions": [
{
"status": "affected",
"version": "6.18"
},
{
"lessThan": "6.18",
"status": "unaffected",
"version": "0",
"versionType": "semver"
},
{
"lessThanOrEqual": "6.18.*",
"status": "unaffected",
"version": "6.18.39",
"versionType": "semver"
},
{
"lessThanOrEqual": "7.1.*",
"status": "unaffected",
"version": "7.1.4",
"versionType": "semver"
},
{
"lessThanOrEqual": "*",
"status": "unaffected",
"version": "7.2-rc2",
"versionType": "original_commit_for_fix"
}
]
}
],
"cpeApplicability": [
{
"nodes": [
{
"cpeMatch": [
{
"criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"versionEndExcluding": "6.18.39",
"versionStartIncluding": "6.18",
"vulnerable": true
},
{
"criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"versionEndExcluding": "7.1.4",
"versionStartIncluding": "6.18",
"vulnerable": true
},
{
"criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"versionEndExcluding": "7.2-rc2",
"versionStartIncluding": "6.18",
"vulnerable": true
}
],
"negate": false,
"operator": "OR"
}
]
}
],
"descriptions": [
{
"lang": "en",
"value": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\ntcp: restore RCU grace period in tcp_ao_destroy_sock\n\nCommit 51e547e8c89c (\"tcp: Free TCP-AO/TCP-MD5 info/keys without RCU\")\nremoved the call_rcu() callback from tcp_ao_destroy_sock(), arguing that\n\"the destruction of info/keys is delayed until the socket destructor\"\nand therefore \"no one can discover it anymore\".\n\nThat argument does not hold for the call site in tcp_connect()\n(net/ipv4/tcp_output.c:4327-4332). At that point the socket is in\nTCP_SYN_SENT, has already been inserted into the inet ehash by\ninet_hash_connect() in tcp_v4_connect(), and is therefore very much\ndiscoverable: any softirq running tcp_v4_rcv() on another CPU can take\nthe socket out of the ehash, walk into tcp_inbound_hash(), and load\ntp-\u003eao_info via implicit RCU before bh_lock_sock_nested() is taken on\nthe destroying CPU.\n\nThe reader path then enters __tcp_ao_do_lookup() (net/ipv4/tcp_ao.c:208)\nwhich re-loads tp-\u003eao_info via rcu_dereference_check(); the re-load can\nstill observe the (about-to-be-freed) pointer because there is no\nsynchronize_rcu() between rcu_assign_pointer(tp-\u003eao_info, NULL) and\ntcp_ao_info_free() in tcp_ao_destroy_sock(). The captured pointer is\nthen walked at line 223:\n\n\thlist_for_each_entry_rcu(key, \u0026ao-\u003ehead, node, ...)\n\nThe writer\u0027s synchronous kfree() is free to complete between the line\n218 re-fetch and the line 223 hlist iteration. The slab is reused\n(or simply LIST_POISON1-stamped if not yet reused) and the iteration\nwalks attacker-controlled or poison memory in softirq context.\n\nReproducer (no debug shim, stock x86_64 v7.1-rc2 SMP+KASAN, QEMU+KVM):\nan unprivileged uid=1000 process inside CLONE_NEWUSER|CLONE_NEWNET\ninstalls TCP_MD5SIG + TCP_AO_ADD_KEY on a TCP socket, sprays forged\nTCP-AO segments toward its eventual 4-tuple via raw sockets, then\ncalls connect(). The md5-wins reconciliation in tcp_connect() fires\ntcp_ao_destroy_sock(); the softirq backlog reader on the loopback\nNAPI path crashes on the freed ao-\u003ehead.first walk:\n\n Oops: general protection fault, probably for non-canonical\n address 0xfbd59c000000002f\n KASAN: maybe wild-memory-access in range\n [0xdead000000000178-0xdead00000000017f]\n CPU: 0 UID: 1000 PID: 100 Comm: repro_userns\n RIP: 0010:__tcp_ao_do_lookup+0x107/0x1c0\n Call Trace: \u003cIRQ\u003e\n __tcp_ao_do_lookup+0x107/0x1c0\n tcp_ao_inbound_lookup.constprop.0+0x12a/0x200\n tcp_inbound_ao_hash+0x5ea/0x1520\n tcp_inbound_hash+0x7ce/0x1240\n tcp_v4_rcv+0x1e7a/0x3e10\n ...\n\nRestore the RCU grace period: re-add struct rcu_head to tcp_ao_info\nand replace the synchronous tcp_ao_info_free() with a call_rcu()\ncallback. Readers that captured tp-\u003eao_info before rcu_assign_pointer\nNULLed it now see the object remain valid until rcu_read_unlock().\nWith the patch applied the reproducer runs cleanly for 2000 iterations\non the same kernel build."
}
],
"providerMetadata": {
"dateUpdated": "2026-07-25T08:51:26.879Z",
"orgId": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
"shortName": "Linux"
},
"references": [
{
"url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/657646c08c94ef7b9dbe468fe7828032216f9841"
},
{
"url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4caf12c778fed3dc3824cf36263be5e2c491fbd0"
},
{
"url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8bc4d43bccbd60efe85d0a44d5bf41762f2f0c30"
}
],
"title": "tcp: restore RCU grace period in tcp_ao_destroy_sock",
"x_generator": {
"engine": "bippy-1.2.0"
}
}
},
"cveMetadata": {
"assignerOrgId": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
"assignerShortName": "Linux",
"cveId": "CVE-2026-64459",
"datePublished": "2026-07-25T08:51:26.879Z",
"dateReserved": "2026-07-19T15:36:31.789Z",
"dateUpdated": "2026-07-25T08:51:26.879Z",
"state": "PUBLISHED"
},
"dataType": "CVE_RECORD",
"dataVersion": "5.2",
"vulnerability-lookup:meta": {
"epss": {
"cve": "CVE-2026-64459",
"date": "2026-07-25",
"epss": "0.00206",
"percentile": "0.10857"
},
"nvd": "{\"cve\":{\"id\":\"CVE-2026-64459\",\"sourceIdentifier\":\"416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67\",\"published\":\"2026-07-25T10:17:31.073\",\"lastModified\":\"2026-07-25T10:17:31.073\",\"vulnStatus\":\"Received\",\"cveTags\":[],\"descriptions\":[{\"lang\":\"en\",\"value\":\"In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\\n\\ntcp: restore RCU grace period in tcp_ao_destroy_sock\\n\\nCommit 51e547e8c89c (\\\"tcp: Free TCP-AO/TCP-MD5 info/keys without RCU\\\")\\nremoved the call_rcu() callback from tcp_ao_destroy_sock(), arguing that\\n\\\"the destruction of info/keys is delayed until the socket destructor\\\"\\nand therefore \\\"no one can discover it anymore\\\".\\n\\nThat argument does not hold for the call site in tcp_connect()\\n(net/ipv4/tcp_output.c:4327-4332). At that point the socket is in\\nTCP_SYN_SENT, has already been inserted into the inet ehash by\\ninet_hash_connect() in tcp_v4_connect(), and is therefore very much\\ndiscoverable: any softirq running tcp_v4_rcv() on another CPU can take\\nthe socket out of the ehash, walk into tcp_inbound_hash(), and load\\ntp-\u003eao_info via implicit RCU before bh_lock_sock_nested() is taken on\\nthe destroying CPU.\\n\\nThe reader path then enters __tcp_ao_do_lookup() (net/ipv4/tcp_ao.c:208)\\nwhich re-loads tp-\u003eao_info via rcu_dereference_check(); the re-load can\\nstill observe the (about-to-be-freed) pointer because there is no\\nsynchronize_rcu() between rcu_assign_pointer(tp-\u003eao_info, NULL) and\\ntcp_ao_info_free() in tcp_ao_destroy_sock(). The captured pointer is\\nthen walked at line 223:\\n\\n\\thlist_for_each_entry_rcu(key, \u0026ao-\u003ehead, node, ...)\\n\\nThe writer\u0027s synchronous kfree() is free to complete between the line\\n218 re-fetch and the line 223 hlist iteration. The slab is reused\\n(or simply LIST_POISON1-stamped if not yet reused) and the iteration\\nwalks attacker-controlled or poison memory in softirq context.\\n\\nReproducer (no debug shim, stock x86_64 v7.1-rc2 SMP+KASAN, QEMU+KVM):\\nan unprivileged uid=1000 process inside CLONE_NEWUSER|CLONE_NEWNET\\ninstalls TCP_MD5SIG + TCP_AO_ADD_KEY on a TCP socket, sprays forged\\nTCP-AO segments toward its eventual 4-tuple via raw sockets, then\\ncalls connect(). The md5-wins reconciliation in tcp_connect() fires\\ntcp_ao_destroy_sock(); the softirq backlog reader on the loopback\\nNAPI path crashes on the freed ao-\u003ehead.first walk:\\n\\n Oops: general protection fault, probably for non-canonical\\n address 0xfbd59c000000002f\\n KASAN: maybe wild-memory-access in range\\n [0xdead000000000178-0xdead00000000017f]\\n CPU: 0 UID: 1000 PID: 100 Comm: repro_userns\\n RIP: 0010:__tcp_ao_do_lookup+0x107/0x1c0\\n Call Trace: \u003cIRQ\u003e\\n __tcp_ao_do_lookup+0x107/0x1c0\\n tcp_ao_inbound_lookup.constprop.0+0x12a/0x200\\n tcp_inbound_ao_hash+0x5ea/0x1520\\n tcp_inbound_hash+0x7ce/0x1240\\n tcp_v4_rcv+0x1e7a/0x3e10\\n ...\\n\\nRestore the RCU grace period: re-add struct rcu_head to tcp_ao_info\\nand replace the synchronous tcp_ao_info_free() with a call_rcu()\\ncallback. Readers that captured tp-\u003eao_info before rcu_assign_pointer\\nNULLed it now see the object remain valid until rcu_read_unlock().\\nWith the patch applied the reproducer runs cleanly for 2000 iterations\\non the same kernel build.\"}],\"affected\":[{\"source\":\"416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67\",\"affectedData\":[{\"vendor\":\"Linux\",\"product\":\"Linux\",\"defaultStatus\":\"unaffected\",\"programFiles\":[\"include/net/tcp_ao.h\",\"net/ipv4/tcp_ao.c\"],\"repo\":\"https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git\",\"versions\":[{\"version\":\"51e547e8c89c661f6fbede4a28b1d33b13625683\",\"lessThan\":\"657646c08c94ef7b9dbe468fe7828032216f9841\",\"versionType\":\"git\",\"status\":\"affected\"},{\"version\":\"51e547e8c89c661f6fbede4a28b1d33b13625683\",\"lessThan\":\"4caf12c778fed3dc3824cf36263be5e2c491fbd0\",\"versionType\":\"git\",\"status\":\"affected\"},{\"version\":\"51e547e8c89c661f6fbede4a28b1d33b13625683\",\"lessThan\":\"8bc4d43bccbd60efe85d0a44d5bf41762f2f0c30\",\"versionType\":\"git\",\"status\":\"affected\"}]},{\"vendor\":\"Linux\",\"product\":\"Linux\",\"defaultStatus\":\"affected\",\"programFiles\":[\"include/net/tcp_ao.h\",\"net/ipv4/tcp_ao.c\"],\"repo\":\"https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git\",\"versions\":[{\"version\":\"6.18\",\"status\":\"affected\"},{\"version\":\"0\",\"lessThan\":\"6.18\",\"versionType\":\"semver\",\"status\":\"unaffected\"},{\"version\":\"6.18.39\",\"lessThanOrEqual\":\"6.18.*\",\"versionType\":\"semver\",\"status\":\"unaffected\"},{\"version\":\"7.1.4\",\"lessThanOrEqual\":\"7.1.*\",\"versionType\":\"semver\",\"status\":\"unaffected\"},{\"version\":\"7.2-rc2\",\"lessThanOrEqual\":\"*\",\"versionType\":\"original_commit_for_fix\",\"status\":\"unaffected\"}]}]}],\"metrics\":{},\"references\":[{\"url\":\"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4caf12c778fed3dc3824cf36263be5e2c491fbd0\",\"source\":\"416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67\"},{\"url\":\"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/657646c08c94ef7b9dbe468fe7828032216f9841\",\"source\":\"416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67\"},{\"url\":\"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8bc4d43bccbd60efe85d0a44d5bf41762f2f0c30\",\"source\":\"416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67\"}]}}",
"suse_vex": {
"aggregate_severity": "not set",
"current_release_date": "2026-07-25T15:58:55Z",
"cve": "CVE-2026-64459",
"id": "CVE-2026-64459",
"initial_release_date": "2026-07-25T15:58:55Z",
"source": "SUSE CSAF VEX",
"status": "interim",
"title": "SUSE CVE CVE-2026-64459",
"url": "https://ftp.suse.com/pub/projects/security/csaf-vex/cve-2026-64459.json",
"version": "2"
}
}
}
Loading…
Loading…
Experimental. This forecast is provided for visualization only and may change without notice. Do not use it for operational decisions.
Forecast uses a logistic model when the trend is rising, or an exponential decay model when the trend is falling. Fitted via linearized least squares.
Sightings
| Author | Source | Type | Date | Other |
|---|
Nomenclature
- Seen: The vulnerability was mentioned, discussed, or observed by the user.
- Confirmed: The vulnerability has been validated from an analyst's perspective.
- Published Proof of Concept: A public proof of concept is available for this vulnerability.
- Exploited: The vulnerability was observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
- Patched: The vulnerability was observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.
- Not exploited: The vulnerability was not observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
- Not confirmed: The user expressed doubt about the validity of the vulnerability.
- Not patched: The vulnerability was not observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.
Loading…
The MITRE ATT&CK techniques below are AI-generated suggestions, inferred from the description of the
vulnerability by the CIRCL/vulnerability-attack-technique-classification-roberta-base
model, served locally by ML-Gateway.
They have not been verified by an analyst and are provided for guidance only.
Loading…
Loading…