Use After Free in Linux

CVE-2026-31533

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net/tls: fix use-after-free in -EBUSY error path of tls_do_encryption The -EBUSY handling in tls_do_encryption(), introduced by commit 859054147318 ("net: tls: handle backlogging of crypto requests"), has a use-after-free due to double cleanup of encrypt_pending and the scatterlist entry. When crypto_aead_encrypt() returns -EBUSY, the request is enqueued to the cryptd backlog and the async callback tls_encrypt_done() will be invoked upon completion. That callback unconditionally restores the scatterlist entry (sge->offset, sge->length) and decrements ctx->encrypt_pending. However, if tls_encrypt_async_wait() returns an error, the synchronous error path in tls_do_encryption() performs the same cleanup again, double-decrementing encrypt_pending and double-restoring the scatterlist. The double-decrement corrupts the encrypt_pending sentinel (initialized to 1), making tls_encrypt_async_wait() permanently skip the wait for pending async callbacks. A subsequent sendmsg can then free the tls_rec via bpf_exec_tx_verdict() while a cryptd callback is still pending, resulting in a use-after-free when the callback fires on the freed record. Fix this by skipping the synchronous cleanup when the -EBUSY async wait returns an error, since the callback has already handled encrypt_pending and sge restoration.

Vulnerability class: Use-After-Free

Published · last modified .

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 9.8 (Critical). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.007 (51.6th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 52nd percentile — 51.6% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS trend (30 days)EPSS over the last 30 days for CVE-2026-31533: held from 0.004 to 0.007.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.004 · newest: 0.007 · change: +0.003

Affected products

  • Linux — versions 6.6.18, cd1bbca03f3c1d845ce274c0d0a66de8e5929f72, 5.15.203
  • Linux Kernel — versions 7.0

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-31533?
CVE-2026-31533 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Linux, classified under Use After Free. CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2026-04-23.
How severe is CVE-2026-31533?
Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.