CVE-2026-72137 (GCVE-0-2026-72137)
Vulnerability from cvelistv5
Published
2026-08-15 05:53
Modified
2026-08-17 05:40
Severity ?
VLAI Severity ?
EPSS score ?
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
xfrm: nat_keepalive: avoid double free on send error
nat_keepalive_send() frees the keepalive skb whenever the IPv4 or IPv6
send helper reports an error.
That cleanup is only correct before the skb is handed to the output
path. Once ip_build_and_send_pkt() or ip6_xmit() takes ownership, the
networking stack may already have consumed the skb before returning an
error, so freeing it again is unsafe.
Handle the pre-handoff failure cases inside nat_keepalive_send_ipv4()
and nat_keepalive_send_ipv6(), where the caller still owns the skb, and
keep nat_keepalive_send() responsible only for family dispatch and the
unsupported-family cleanup path.
References
| URL | Tags | |
|---|---|---|
Impacted products
{
"containers": {
"cna": {
"affected": [
{
"defaultStatus": "unaffected",
"product": "Linux",
"programFiles": [
"net/xfrm/xfrm_nat_keepalive.c"
],
"repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
"vendor": "Linux",
"versions": [
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"status": "affected",
"version": "f531d13bdfe3f4f084aaa8acae2cb0f02295f5ae",
"versionType": "git"
},
{
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"version": "f531d13bdfe3f4f084aaa8acae2cb0f02295f5ae",
"versionType": "git"
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{
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"status": "affected",
"version": "f531d13bdfe3f4f084aaa8acae2cb0f02295f5ae",
"versionType": "git"
},
{
"lessThan": "226f4a490d1a938fc838d8f8c46a4eca864c0d78",
"status": "affected",
"version": "f531d13bdfe3f4f084aaa8acae2cb0f02295f5ae",
"versionType": "git"
}
]
},
{
"defaultStatus": "affected",
"product": "Linux",
"programFiles": [
"net/xfrm/xfrm_nat_keepalive.c"
],
"repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
"vendor": "Linux",
"versions": [
{
"status": "affected",
"version": "6.11"
},
{
"lessThan": "6.11",
"status": "unaffected",
"version": "0",
"versionType": "semver"
},
{
"lessThanOrEqual": "6.12.*",
"status": "unaffected",
"version": "6.12.101",
"versionType": "semver"
},
{
"lessThanOrEqual": "6.18.*",
"status": "unaffected",
"version": "6.18.40",
"versionType": "semver"
},
{
"lessThanOrEqual": "7.1.*",
"status": "unaffected",
"version": "7.1.5",
"versionType": "semver"
},
{
"lessThanOrEqual": "*",
"status": "unaffected",
"version": "7.2",
"versionType": "original_commit_for_fix"
}
]
}
],
"cpeApplicability": [
{
"nodes": [
{
"cpeMatch": [
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"criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"versionEndExcluding": "6.12.101",
"versionStartIncluding": "6.11",
"vulnerable": true
},
{
"criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
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"versionStartIncluding": "6.11",
"vulnerable": true
},
{
"criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
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"versionStartIncluding": "6.11",
"vulnerable": true
},
{
"criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
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"versionStartIncluding": "6.11",
"vulnerable": true
}
],
"negate": false,
"operator": "OR"
}
]
}
],
"descriptions": [
{
"lang": "en",
"value": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nxfrm: nat_keepalive: avoid double free on send error\n\nnat_keepalive_send() frees the keepalive skb whenever the IPv4 or IPv6\nsend helper reports an error.\n\nThat cleanup is only correct before the skb is handed to the output\npath. Once ip_build_and_send_pkt() or ip6_xmit() takes ownership, the\nnetworking stack may already have consumed the skb before returning an\nerror, so freeing it again is unsafe.\n\nHandle the pre-handoff failure cases inside nat_keepalive_send_ipv4()\nand nat_keepalive_send_ipv6(), where the caller still owns the skb, and\nkeep nat_keepalive_send() responsible only for family dispatch and the\nunsupported-family cleanup path."
}
],
"metrics": [
{
"cvssV3_1": {
"baseScore": 9.8,
"baseSeverity": "CRITICAL",
"vectorString": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H",
"version": "3.1"
},
"scenarios": [
{
"lang": "en",
"value": "AV:N - On internet-facing IPsec VPN gateways using kernel NAT keepalive, a remote attacker can induce post-handoff outbound send failures (e.g., ENOMEM from network-driven memory pressure) when periodic keepalives are transmitted, reaching the vulnerable double-free path.\nAC:L - After an outbound ESP-in-UDP SA has NAT keepalive configured, an attacker can reliably force send errors where the stack already consumed the skb (ip6_xmit EMSGSIZE, ip_finish_output2 neighbour/ENOMEM paths) without uncontrollable races or memory layout dependencies.\nPR:N - Remote exploitation requires no privileges on the victim; it only needs a typical IPsec NAT-T deployment where userspace already set XFRMA_NAT_KEEPALIVE_INTERVAL. Local exploitation via user namespaces needs only CAP_NET_ADMIN (PR:L), not root in the init namespace.\nUI:N - No victim or administrator interaction is needed during exploitation; NAT keepalives are sent automatically by the kernel delayed work queue on the configured interval once the XFRM SA exists.\nS:U - Impact is kernel heap corruption and privilege escalation within the same security authority; this is not a VM escape, container breakout, or IOMMU/DMA boundary bypass.\nC:H - The skb double-free corrupts the slab allocator and yields use-after-free primitives that can be leveraged for arbitrary kernel memory disclosure, not merely a bounded leak or crash-only NULL dereference.\nI:H - Double-free heap corruption enables attacker-controlled reallocation of freed sk_buff objects, supporting arbitrary kernel memory writes, control-flow hijacking, and local privilege escalation.\nA:H - The double-free reliably causes slab corruption, kernel oops, or panic during keepalive send-error cleanup, providing immediate and repeatable denial of service on affected systems."
}
]
}
],
"providerMetadata": {
"dateUpdated": "2026-08-17T05:40:47.767Z",
"orgId": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
"shortName": "Linux"
},
"references": [
{
"url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d0a4dc7efa825bce60a8da8f7d43c864a159abde"
},
{
"url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5b0c4c916f202b8fd13d12afb6af62b385622f81"
},
{
"url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a8a7e6a9ff8a4c1f067694ddbd44be67fdf36693"
},
{
"url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/226f4a490d1a938fc838d8f8c46a4eca864c0d78"
}
],
"title": "xfrm: nat_keepalive: avoid double free on send error",
"x_generator": {
"engine": "bippy-1.2.0"
}
}
},
"cveMetadata": {
"assignerOrgId": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
"assignerShortName": "Linux",
"cveId": "CVE-2026-72137",
"datePublished": "2026-08-15T05:53:11.812Z",
"dateReserved": "2026-08-09T03:40:39.908Z",
"dateUpdated": "2026-08-17T05:40:47.767Z",
"state": "PUBLISHED"
},
"dataType": "CVE_RECORD",
"dataVersion": "5.2"
}
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Sightings
| Author | Source | Type | Date |
|---|
Nomenclature
- Seen: The vulnerability was mentioned, discussed, or seen somewhere by the user.
- Confirmed: The vulnerability is confirmed from an analyst perspective.
- Published Proof of Concept: A public proof of concept is available for this vulnerability.
- Exploited: This vulnerability was exploited and seen by the user reporting the sighting.
- Patched: This vulnerability was successfully patched by the user reporting the sighting.
- Not exploited: This vulnerability was not exploited or seen by the user reporting the sighting.
- Not confirmed: The user expresses doubt about the veracity of the vulnerability.
- Not patched: This vulnerability was not successfully patched by the user reporting the sighting.
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