Vulnerability in Linux
CVE-2026-72221
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: sunrpc: wait for in-flight TLS handshake callback when cancel loses race When wait_for_completion_interruptible_timeout() in svc_tcp_handshake() returns 0 (timeout) or -ERESTARTSYS (signal) and tls_handshake_cancel() then returns false, handshake_complete() has won the cancellation race: it has set HANDSHAKE_F_REQ_COMPLETED and is about to invoke svc_tcp_handshake_done(), but the callback's side effects on xpt_flags and on svsk->sk_handshake_done have not yet committed. The current code reads xpt_flags immediately to decide whether the session succeeded. Two races result. If the callback has executed set_bit(XPT_TLS_SESSION) but not yet clear_bit(XPT_HANDSHAKE), svc_tcp_handshake() sees a session, enqueues the transport, and returns. svc_xprt_received() then clears XPT_BUSY, a worker thread picks the transport up, the dispatcher in svc_handle_xprt() observes XPT_HANDSHAKE still set, and xpo_handshake is invoked a second time. That svc_tcp_handshake() calls init_completion(&svsk->sk_handshake_done) while the original callback concurrently calls complete_all() on it, corrupting the embedded swait_queue. If the callback has set HANDSHAKE_F_REQ_COMPLETED but not yet entered svc_tcp_handshake_done(), svc_tcp_handshake() reads XPT_TLS_SESSION as clear and tears the connection down even though the handshake is about to succeed. Wait for the callback to commit before inspecting xpt_flags. The completion is guaranteed to fire because handshake_complete() invokes svc_tcp_handshake_done() unconditionally once it has set HANDSHAKE_F_REQ_COMPLETED.
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 (50.1th percentile), scored .
Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 50th percentile — 50.1% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.
EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.006 · newest: 0.007 · change: +0.000
Affected products
- Linux — versions 7.2-rc1, 6.6.145, b3cbf98e2fdf3cb147a95161560cd25987284330
References
Frequently asked questions
- What is CVE-2026-72221?
- CVE-2026-72221 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Linux. CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2026-08-15.
- How severe is CVE-2026-72221?
- Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.