CVE-2026-68426

A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's xfrm subsystem. This vulnerability arises when asynchronous cryptographic operations incorrectly handle network packet segments, leaving a pointer to memory that has already been released. An attacker could potentially exploit this use-after-free condition to cause a system crash (denial of service) or, in some scenarios, execute unauthorized code.

This vulnerability is rated as an Important severity flaw because an authenticated local user can trigger kernel memory corruption through a use-after-free condition, potentially resulting in privilege escalation or a kernel crash. While triggering the issue requires specific IPsec configurations utilizing asynchronous cryptographic routines on segmented network traffic, successful exploitation breaches kernel memory boundaries. Red Hat Enterprise Linux systems that do not process IPsec transformed workloads face limited exposure, but environments routing such traffic remain vulnerable to complete host compromise.

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.