Vulnerability in Linux

CVE-2026-72151

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: tpm: tpm2-sessions: wait for async KPP completion in tpm_buf_append_salt tpm_buf_append_salt() in drivers/char/tpm/tpm2-sessions.c calls crypto_kpp_generate_public_key() and crypto_kpp_compute_shared_secret() without installing a completion callback, discards both return values, and immediately frees the kpp_request via kpp_request_free(). When the resolved ecdh-nist-p256 KPP backend is asynchronous (atmel-ecc, HPRE, keembay-ocs), either operation returns -EINPROGRESS and the deferred completion worker dereferences the freed request. The path fires automatically from the hwrng_fillfn kernel thread via tpm_get_random -> tpm2_get_random -> tpm2_start_auth_session -> tpm_buf_append_salt on every entropy poll, without any userland action. Install crypto_req_done as the completion callback, wrap both KPP operations in crypto_wait_req(), and propagate errors to the caller. The wait is a no-op for synchronous backends.

Published · last modified .

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 8.4 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.002 (8.3th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 8th percentile — 8.3% 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-2026-72151: held from 0.002 to 0.002.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.002 · newest: 0.002 · change: +0.000

Affected products

  • Linux — versions 7.2-rc1, 7.2, 6.18.40

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-72151?
CVE-2026-72151 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux. CVSS score: 8.4/10. Published 2026-08-15.
How severe is CVE-2026-72151?
High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 8.4 out of 10.