CVE-2026-98549

A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's TCP subsystem. When a TCP connection transitions to hardware-assisted encryption, data packets queued after the transition can be improperly merged with unencrypted packets in the retransmission queue. This issue may allow an attacker on the network to obtain sensitive data transmitted in cleartext (information disclosure) or cause affected connections to stall, resulting in a denial of service (DoS).

This vulnerability is rated as Moderate severity because it requires specific networking configurations—specifically hardware-assisted encryption features like Kernel TLS device offload—which are not enabled by default in standard Red Hat Enterprise Linux deployments. Successful exploitation requires an active connection transitioning to hardware encryption while unacknowledged packets remain queued, accompanied by network packet loss or SACK processing to trigger retransmission merging. Consequently, the flaw presents limited exposure under typical workloads, restricting the potential for eavesdropping on cleartext retransmissions or inducing connection stalls.

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.