Vulnerability in Linux

CVE-2026-43336

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: lib/crypto: chacha: Zeroize permuted_state before it leaves scope Since the ChaCha permutation is invertible, the local variable 'permuted_state' is sufficient to compute the original 'state', and thus the key, even after the permutation has been done. While the kernel is quite inconsistent about zeroizing secrets on the stack (and some prominent userspace crypto libraries don't bother at all since it's not guaranteed to work anyway), the kernel does try to do it as a best practice, especially in cases involving the RNG. Thus, explicitly zeroize 'permuted_state' before it goes out of scope.

Published · last modified .

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 7.5 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.006 (45.5th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 45th percentile — 45.5% 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-2026-43336: held from 0.004 to 0.006.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.004 · newest: 0.006 · change: +0.002

Affected products

  • Linux — versions c08d0e647305c3f8f640010a56c9e4bafb9488d3, 4.2, 0
  • Linux Kernel — versions 7.0

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-43336?
CVE-2026-43336 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux. CVSS score: 7.5/10. Published 2026-05-08.
How severe is CVE-2026-43336?
High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.5 out of 10.