CVE-2026-72463: Linux

Critical severity, CVSS 9.8. EPSS: 0.7% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days.

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: xfrm: Fix dev use-after-free in xfrm async resumption xfrm async resumption hold skb->dev refcnt until after transport_finish. However, xfrm_rcv_cb may modify skb->dev to tunnel dev without taking device reference, such as vti_rcv_cb. The subsequent async resumption will decrement the tunnel device's reference count, which lead to uaf of tunnel dev and refcnt leak of orig dev as below: unregister_netdevice: waiting for vti1 to become free. Usage count = -2 Stash the original skb->dev to fix refcnt imbalance. The new skb->dev set by xfrm_rcv_cb can race with device teardown. Extend rcu protection over xfrm_rcv_cb and transport_finish to prevent races.

Affected products

• Linux Linux: from 6.12.94, before 6.12.112 (fixed in 6.12.112); from 6.18.23, before 6.18.54 (fixed in 6.18.54); from 6.19.13, before 6.20 (fixed in 6.20); from 7.0, before 7.1.5 (fixed in 7.1.5)

Published 2026-08-15. Last modified 2026-10-03.