Vulnerability in Linux

CVE-2026-52981

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: neigh: let neigh_xmit take skb ownership neigh_xmit always releases the skb, except when no neighbour table is found. But even the first added user of neigh_xmit (mpls) relied on neigh_xmit to release the skb (or queue it for tx). sashiko reported: If neigh_xmit() is called with an uninitialized neighbor table (for example, NEIGH_ND_TABLE when IPv6 is disabled), it returns -EAFNOSUPPORT and bypasses its internal out_kfree_skb error path. Because the return value of neigh_xmit() is ignored here, does this leak the SKB? Assume full ownership and remove the last code path that doesn't xmit or free skb.

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:N/I:N/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.007 (52.4th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 52nd percentile — 52.4% 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-2026-52981: held from 0.005 to 0.007.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.005 · newest: 0.007 · change: +0.002

Affected products

  • Linux — versions 4fd3d7d9e868ffbdb0e7a67c5c8e9dfdcd846a62, 4.1, 0
  • Linux Kernel — versions 7.1

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-52981?
CVE-2026-52981 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux, classified under Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime. CVSS score: 7.5/10. Published 2026-06-24.
How severe is CVE-2026-52981?
High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.5 out of 10.