CVE-2026-46300

A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's XFRM ESP-in-TCP subsystem. Unsafe in-place cryptographic processing allows a low-privileged local attacker to write arbitrary bytes into the page cache of read-only files, including sensitive system files. An attacker can exploit this to overwrite privileged binaries and gain root privileges.

This issue is classified as Important, rather than Critical severity, because exploitation requires local access to the system. A low-privileged local attacker can exploit this flaw in the Linux kernel's XFRM ESP-in-TCP subsystem to gain root privileges by overwriting sensitive system files. Exploitation does not require user interaction, potentially resulting in full compromise of confidentiality, integrity, and availability.

The CVSS score(s) listed for this vulnerability do not reflect the associated product's status, and are included for informational purposes to better understand the severity of this vulnerability.

See the security bulletin for a detailed mitigation procedure.