CVE-2026-63872
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
esp: fix page frag reference leak on skb_to_sgvec failure
In esp_output_tail(), when esp->inplace is false, the old skb page frags
are replaced with a new page from the xfrm page_frag cache. The source
scatterlist (sg) is built from the old frags before the replacement, and
esp_ssg_unref() is responsible for releasing the old page references
after the crypto operation completes.
However, if the second skb_to_sgvec() call (which builds the destination
scatterlist from the new page) fails, the code jumps to error_free which
only calls kfree(tmp). The old page frag references captured in the
source scatterlist are never released:
1. sg[] is built from old frags via skb_to_sgvec() (no extra get_page)
2. nr_frags is set to 1 and frag[0] is replaced with the new page
3. Second skb_to_sgvec() fails -> goto error_free
4. kfree(tmp) frees the sg[] memory but old frags are not unref'd
5. kfree_skb() only releases frag[0] (the new page), not the old ones
Fix this by adding a bool parameter to esp_ssg_unref() that, when true,
unconditionally unrefs the source scatterlist frags without checking
req->src and req->dst, since those fields are not yet initialized by
aead_request_set_crypt() at the point of the error. Existing callers
pass false to preserve the original behavior.
The same issue exists in both esp4 and esp6 as the code is identical.
CSIRTS triage
- What
- This vulnerability addresses a page frag reference leak on skb_to_sgvec failure.
- Who is affected
- Deployments using esp.
- Urgency
- Remediation is not urgent as there is no known exploitation.
- Action
- Apply the fix for CVE-2026-63872.
AI-assisted analysis generated from the source advisory — verify against the original.
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Exploitation outlook
- Low exploitation risk0.28% 30-day exploitation probability — currently an unlikely target, but scores change as exploit code circulates. Riskier than 20% of all EPSS-scored CVEs.
Advisory coverage (2)
External references
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