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DPDK vhost-crypto EUVDEUVD-2026-101511

| CVE-2026-86847 MEDIUM
Access of Uninitialized Pointer (CWE-824)
6.5
CVSS 3.1 · NVD
View

Attack ChainAIDerived

Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain

  1. Access
    Guest access to vhost-crypto backend
  2. Exploit
    Submit malformed writeback descriptor chain
  3. Execution
    Trigger infinite cleanup loop
  4. Impact
    Hang host crypto thread (DoS)

Vulnerability Assessment

Weakness
CWE
ASVS 5.0
V15 - Secure Coding and Architecture Uninitialized pointer prevention
MITRE ATT&CK

1 technique across 1 tactic: Execution

The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up.

Exploitation Conditions

Exploitation requires that the DPDK vhost-crypto library be deployed and exposed as a virtio-crypto device backend to an untrusted or compromised guest/client; the attacker must be able to submit crypto requests (specifically a crafted writeback descriptor chain) to that backend. Limiting factors: the backend is local-only (AV:L) and not reachable over the network, some level of guest access/privilege is required (PR:L), and vhost-crypto is an optional, non-default component not present in typical DPDK packet-forwarding deployments - so single-tenant or non-crypto DPDK installations are not affected. Impact is confined to availability (host/service hang); no data exposure or code execution.

Impact

All signals point to a locally-exploitable denial-of-service of moderate priority rather than a critical emergency. The CVSS 3.1 vector (AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H, 6.5 Medium) shows the only impact is availability (A:H) with no confidentiality or integrity loss, and requires local access plus some privilege (PR:L) - consistent with a malicious or compromised guest driving the host-side vhost-crypto backend, where S:C (scope change) reflects the guest-to-host trust boundary being crossed. No EPSS score, no CISA KEV listing, and no public POC were provided, so there is no evidence of active or probable exploitation; this is a vendor-disclosed hardening fix, not a known in-the-wild threat. Note a data caveat: the input conflates a multi-CVE DPDK advisory, and the two linked articles were blocked by an anti-bot interstitial (Anubis), so vendor-level detail (affected version ranges, fix commits) could not be independently retrieved. Bottom line: a legitimate but not urgent fix - meaningful only for multi-tenant deployments that actually expose the DPDK vhost-crypto backend to untrusted guests.

Exploit ScenarioDerived

A malicious or compromised guest VM attached to a DPDK vhost-crypto (virtio-crypto) backend submits a crafted writeback descriptor chain that drives the host-side cleanup routine into an infinite loop, pinning the processing thread and denying crypto service to the host and co-located guests. Exploitation is local and low-complexity (AV:L/AC:L) but needs the attacker to already have access to the crypto device as a low-privileged guest (PR:L). No public exploit code was identified at time of analysis.

This Month Plan within 30 days. Why: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9).
No patch listed yet 0.2% exploitation probability (EPSS)

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AnalysisAIv1 – Oct 14, 2026

An infinite cleanup loop in DPDK's vhost-crypto library can be triggered by a local attacker with guest-level access via a crafted writeback descriptor chain, causing a denial of service (host/service hang). The vulnerability is rated CVSS 6.5 (Medium) with a local attack vector (AV:L), low complexity, and scope change; it only affects deployments where vhost-crypto is exposed as a virtio-crypto device backend to untrusted guests. No public exploit code or active exploitation has been identified at time of analysis.

RemediationAI

No vendor-released patch identified at time of analysis; monitor the DPDK Bugzilla (#2023) and oss-security advisory (https://seclists.org/oss-sec/2026/q4/158) for updates. As a compensating control, disable or remove the vhost-crypto library from DPDK builds if virtio-crypto offload is not required-trade-off: loses hardware-accelerated crypto for VMs. If vhost-crypto must remain, do not expose it to untrusted or compromised guests; restrict guest access and monitor for host hangs. Restarting the DPDK process can clear a hang but is only a temporary mitigation. There is no confirmed fixed version to upgrade to at this time.

Affected ProductsAI

Affected product is DPDK (Data Plane Development Kit) when built with the vhost-crypto library and configured to expose it as a virtio-crypto backend. All versions containing this library are potentially affected unless patched. The DPDK Bugzilla entry (#2023) and the oss-security advisory (https://seclists.org/oss-sec/2026/q4/158) describe the issue, but no specific vulnerable or fixed version ranges are provided in the available data. Other vulnerabilities in the same advisory affect vhost, vhost-crypto, vDPA, and GSO libraries (CVE-2026-86845, CVE-2026-86856, CVE-2026-86564, CVE-2026-86565, CVE-2026-93683, CVE-2026-100236).

Affects your stack

Find out whether the stacks and servers you run are on an affected version.

Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.

Technical ContextAI · show details

DPDK (Data Plane Development Kit) is a user-space packet processing framework. The vhost-crypto library provides virtio-crypto device emulation, allowing virtual machines to offload cryptographic operations to the host. This vulnerability resides in the cleanup logic of writeback descriptor chains: a malformed or specific chain causes the cleanup loop to never terminate, hanging the vhost-crypto backend. The root cause is an infinite loop (aligned with CWE-835) leading to resource exhaustion. The CVSS vector indicates a local attack (AV:L), low complexity (AC:L), low privileges (PR:L), and a scope change (S:C) with only availability impact (A:H), consistent with a denial-of-service condition. The affected component is optional and not enabled in default DPDK packet-forwarding configurations.

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  • Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources

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Severity by source

NVD PRIMARY 6.5 MEDIUM
AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H
vuln.today AI 6.5 MEDIUM

Guest drives the host backend over shared vring (AV:L, PR:L, AC:L), crossing the guest/host boundary (S:C); impact is a service hang only, so A:H with C:N/I:N.

3.1 AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H
4.0 AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:H

Primary rating from NVD.

CVSS VectorNVD

Attack Vector
Local
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
Low
User Interaction
None
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

Lifecycle Timeline

2
CVSS changed
Oct 14, 2026 - 18:22 NVD
6.5 (MEDIUM)
CVE Published
Oct 14, 2026 - 15:07 oss-security
HIGH

Description PRE-NVD

Disclosed via oss-security. NVD scoring and full description are pending.

Executive ViewAI

Why It Matters

DPDK's vhost-crypto library contains a denial-of-service flaw (CVE-2026-86847) that can allow a guest-level attacker to hang the host or service in deployments where vhost-crypto is exposed as a virtio-crypto backend to untrusted guests. Because no vendor-released patch identified at time of analysis and no public exploit identified at time of analysis, the immediate risk is operational disruption in multi-tenant or guest-facing environments rather than known active compromise. Leadership should prioritize identifying exposed deployments and reducing untrusted guest access until a fix is available.

Business Impact: High
Compensating Controls

No vendor-released patch identified at time of analysis. Interim mitigations include disabling vhost-crypto as a virtio-crypto backend for untrusted guests, restricting or eliminating untrusted guest access to affected hosts, segmenting or isolating untrusted guest workloads, monitoring for host/service hangs, and migrating affected workloads to alternate crypto backends or non-vhost-crypto configurations until a fixed DPDK release is available.

Threat Intelligence Overview

EPSS Score
0.2%
Top 95% exploitable
Prevalence
Medium
DPDK is common in telco/NFV and cloud data planes; vhost-crypto is a niche subset
Data Quality
4 sources
Confidence: Medium

How this decision was reached

The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.

SignalValue
Severity MEDIUM
CISA KEV No
Public POC No
EPSS 0.2%
Patch available No
Active threat No
Deciding rule
MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9)
What every action level means
Emergency Immediate action required. Criteria: CRITICAL + in CISA KEV (actively exploited) without patch, OR CRITICAL + EPSS > 30% without patch, OR CRITICAL + active threat signals without patch.
Act Now Prioritize within 24-48h. Criteria: in KEV with patch available, OR CRITICAL + public POC, OR HIGH + EPSS > 10%, OR CRITICAL + active threat, OR any CRITICAL severity.
This Week Schedule remediation this week. Criteria: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9). Patch within normal change window.
This Month Plan within 30 days. Criteria: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9), lower exploitation probability. Include in regular patch cycle.
Monitor Track and reassess. Criteria: LOW severity (CVSS 0.1-3.9), minimal exploitation risk. No immediate action needed.

SSVC AssessmentENISA

SSVC Decision· derived
Scheduled
Exploitation· derived
None
System Exposure· derived
Small
Automatable· derived
No
Human Impact
High

Priority Score

32
Low Medium High Critical
KEV: 0
EPSS: 0
CVSS: +32
PoC: 0
Weaponized: 0
Threat intel: 0
Gov advisory: 0

Attack Technique

Memory corruption occurs when a program writes data beyond the boundaries of allocated memory regions or accesses memory in unintended ways, violating the integrity of the process's address space.

Denial of Service attacks render applications or systems unavailable by overwhelming resources or triggering failure conditions.

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