Vulnerability in Linux
CVE-2026-72330
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net/tls: Consume empty data records in tls_sw_read_sock() A peer may send a zero-length TLS application_data record; TLS 1.3 explicitly permits these as a traffic-analysis countermeasure (RFC 8446, Section 5.1). After decryption such a record has full_len == 0. tls_sw_read_sock() hands it to the read_actor, which has no payload to consume and returns zero. The loop treats a zero return as backpressure (used <= 0), requeues the skb at the head of rx_list, and stops. rx_list is serviced head-first on the next call, so the empty record is dequeued, fails the same way, and is requeued again; every later record on the connection is blocked behind it. tls_sw_recvmsg() does not stall on this: a zero-length data record copies nothing and falls through to consume_skb(). Mirror that in the read_sock() path by recognizing an empty data record before the actor runs, consuming it, and continuing.
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: 0.006 (48.1th percentile), scored .
Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 48th percentile — 48.1% 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: 0.006 · change: 0.000
Affected products
- Linux — versions 6.6.145, 7.2, 6.18.40
References
Frequently asked questions
- What is CVE-2026-72330?
- CVE-2026-72330 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux. CVSS score: 7.5/10. Published 2026-08-15.
- How severe is CVE-2026-72330?
- High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.5 out of 10.