Vulnerability in Linux

CVE-2026-80977

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: skbuff: don't touch shared zerocopy state in skb_tx_error() skb_tx_error() completes the zerocopy uarg and clears SKBFL_ALL_ZEROCOPY, and skb_zcopy_downgrade_managed() clears SKBFL_MANAGED_FRAG_REFS. Both live in skb_shinfo(), which every clone shares, while the caller only owns the reference it is about to drop. Through a clone it tells the producer its pages are free and drops SKBFL_SHARED_FRAG for an skb that is still in flight. Open vSwitch reaches this with a non-last OVS_ACTION_ATTR_RECIRC: clone_execute() sends a skb_clone() into ovs_dp_process_packet() while do_execute_actions() keeps forwarding the original, and skb_clone() does not privatise the frags here -- skb_orphan_frags() returns early on SKBFL_DONT_ORPHAN. A flow miss on the clone then strips the marker from the packet still being forwarded, and a later local ESP delivery decrypts in place over frags it does not own privately. Skip it for a cloned skb. Nothing is lost: skb_release_data() clears the zerocopy state once the last reference to the shared data goes.

Published · last modified .

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 7.8 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.001 (2.5th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 3rd percentile — 2.5% 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-2026-80977: held from 0.002 to 0.001.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.002 · newest: 0.001 · change: -0.000

Affected products

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-80977?
CVE-2026-80977 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux. CVSS score: 7.8/10. Published 2026-09-11.
How severe is CVE-2026-80977?
High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.8 out of 10.