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Linux Kernel CVE-2026-64523

| EUVDEUVD-2026-48867 CRITICAL
2026-07-25 Linux GHSA-fc48-5g6g-x546
Critical
Disputed · 9.8 Vendor: Linux
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Severity by source

Sources disagree (Medium–Critical)
Vendor (Linux) PRIMARY
9.8 CRITICAL
AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
vuln.today AI
4.7 MEDIUM

Local race-condition UAF reachable only via the privileged handshake upcall path (AV:L, AC:H, PR:L); realistic impact is kernel crash (A:H) with no confidentiality/integrity effect.

3.1 AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
4.0 AV:L/AC:H/AT:P/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
SUSE
7.8 HIGH
AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Red Hat
7.0 MEDIUM
qualitative

vuln.today treats the vendor’s rating as authoritative. A higher third-party CVSS (e.g. CISA-ADP) is shown for transparency but does not drive the headline severity.

CVSS VectorVendor: Linux

Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
None
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

Lifecycle Timeline

6
Metadata Corrected
Sep 16, 2026 - 09:40 vuln.today
tag: Information Disclosure removed
Analysis Generated
Jul 27, 2026 - 06:04 vuln.today
CVSS changed
Jul 27, 2026 - 05:22 NVD
9.8 (CRITICAL)
Patch available
Jul 25, 2026 - 11:18 EUVD
CVE Published
Jul 25, 2026 - 09:20 cve.org
UNKNOWN (no severity yet)
CVE Published
Jul 25, 2026 - 09:20 cve.org
CRITICAL 9.8

DescriptionCVE.org

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

net/handshake: Take a long-lived file reference at submit

handshake_nl_accept_doit() needs the file pointer backing req->hr_sk->sk_socket to survive the window between handshake_req_next() and the subsequent FD_PREPARE() and get_file(). The submit-side sock_hold() does not provide that. sk_refcnt keeps struct sock alive, but struct socket is owned by sock->file: when the consumer fputs the last file reference, sock_release() tears the socket down regardless of any sock_hold.

Add an hr_file pointer to struct handshake_req and acquire an explicit reference on sock->file during handshake_req_submit(). handshake_complete() and handshake_req_cancel() release the reference on the completion-bit-winning path.

The submit error path must also release the file reference, but after rhashtable insertion a concurrent handshake_req_cancel() can discover the request and race the error path. Gate the error-path cleanup -- sk_destruct restoration, fput, and request destruction -- with test_and_set_bit(HANDSHAKE_F_REQ_COMPLETED), the same serialization handshake_complete() and handshake_req_cancel() already use. When cancel has already claimed ownership, the submit error path returns without touching the request; socket teardown handles final destruction.

The accept-side dereferences are not yet retargeted; that change comes in the next patch.

AnalysisAI

Use-after-free in the Linux kernel net/handshake subsystem allows a struct socket to be torn down while the handshake netlink accept path still holds a pointer to it. The submit path only took a sock_hold(), which keeps struct sock alive via sk_refcnt but does not pin the struct socket (owned by sock->file); once the userspace handshake agent releases the last file reference, sock_release() destroys the socket, leaving handshake_nl_accept_doit() dereferencing freed memory. Fixed versions are available (6.12.93, 7.0.12, 7.1); EPSS is low at 0.21% and no public exploit is identified at time of analysis.

Technical ContextAI

The net/handshake subsystem implements the kernel's TLS handshake upcall mechanism: when in-kernel consumers such as NFS-over-TLS or RPC-with-TLS need a TLS handshake, the kernel submits a request over a generic-netlink family that a privileged userspace agent (tlshd) services via ACCEPT/DONE operations. The bug is a lifetime/ownership error (CWE-416 use-after-free): handshake_req_submit() pinned only struct sock via sock_hold(), but struct socket is owned by its backing struct file (sock->file). When the consumer fputs the final file reference, sock_release() tears the socket down irrespective of any sk_refcnt hold, so the window between handshake_req_next() and the subsequent FD_PREPARE()/get_file() in handshake_nl_accept_doit() can operate on a freed socket. The fix adds an hr_file pointer to struct handshake_req and takes an explicit get_file(sock->file) at submit time, releasing it on the completion-bit-winning path; the error path is serialized against a concurrent handshake_req_cancel() (which can find the request after rhashtable insertion) using test_and_set_bit(HANDSHAKE_F_REQ_COMPLETED). The description notes the accept-side dereferences are not yet retargeted, so this commit is a preparatory/partial fix. The NVD CPE data is generic (cpe:2.3:a:linux:linux:*), reflecting a whole-kernel range rather than the specific subsystem.

RemediationAI

Vendor-released patch: update to Linux 6.12.93, 7.0.12, or 7.1 (or a later release incorporating stable commits 685b10dd / 16eaba5a / 09dba37e), and apply your distribution's kernel update - Ubuntu users should follow USN-8618-1 (https://ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-8618-1) and reboot into the fixed kernel. Because the vulnerable code is only reachable when the kernel TLS handshake upcall is in use, an effective compensating control where patching must be deferred is to not deploy the tlshd handshake agent and to avoid kernel-TLS-dependent features (e.g. NFS-over-TLS / RPC-with-TLS); the trade-off is loss of in-kernel TLS handshake support for those consumers. Restricting access to the handshake generic-netlink family to the intended privileged agent also reduces exposure, but does not fully close the submit/cancel race, so patching remains the primary fix. Verify fix versions against https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-64523 rather than relying on the inflated 9.8 score.

Vendor StatusVendor

SUSE

Severity: Important
Product Status
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP7 Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP7 Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP7 Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP7 Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 16.0 Affected

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CVE-2026-64523 vulnerability details – vuln.today

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