Planned Fix

CVE-2026-43284

Local Privilege Escalation in Linux kernel
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Summary

This Linux kernel local privilege escalation affects the xfrm ESP receive path in esp4/esp6 when UDP-encapsulated ESP packets carry shared pipe-backed fragments. A local attacker can combine user and network namespaces, MSG_SPLICE_PAGES, and crafted ESP-in-UDP traffic so the kernel decrypts in place over memory it does not privately own. That can turn attacker-controlled bytes into a page-cache write primitive and be used to corrupt privileged files or binaries and gain root; Microsoft also reports limited in-the-wild activity tied to su-based privilege escalation.

Why Planned Fix?

4/6
Authentication required
Internal deployment
No user interaction needed
Exploitable in default configuration
Active exploitation in the wild
High impact vulnerability

Exploitation Details

Type
LPE (Local Privilege Escalation)
Is exploitable with default configuration?
Yes
Is authentication needed?
Yes
PoC / Exploit
Yes
Impact

Modify page-cache-backed data and escalate to root

Full System Compromise
Exploitation Requirements
  • Authentication required
Exploitation Process

An attacker starts with a local shell and creates a user and network namespace to gain CAP_NET_ADMIN inside the namespace. They configure an XFRM/IPsec ESP-over-UDP association, then use pipe-backed data paths such as splice/vmsplice or MSG_SPLICE_PAGES so the payload lands in shared skb fragments. When the crafted ESP-in-UDP packet is received, the kernel decrypts in place over those shared fragments instead of copying them first, letting the attacker write chosen bytes into page-cache-backed memory. Success is typically verified by corrupting a privileged file or setuid binary and then invoking it to obtain a root shell.

Detection Resources
Script Detection
0
Scanner Detection
2

Affected Software

Vendor:Linux
ProductAffected Versions
Linux kernelapproximately 4.14 and later (2017 onward) through patched vendor builds
Description

Open-source operating system kernel used by Linux distributions to manage hardware, processes, memory, filesystems, and networking.

Deployment:Typically internal
|
Protocol:UDP
|
Ports:4500
Affected Componentxfrm ESP receive path in esp4/esp6; ESP-in-UDP handling of shared skb fragments.

xfrm ESP receive path in esp4/esp6; ESP-in-UDP handling of shared skb fragments.

Enterprise UsageEstimated likelihood that this vendor/product is deployed in enterprise environments. AI-generated estimation based on market presence, product type and adoption signals — not exact data.
Very Low
Low
Medium
High
Very High
Vendor Size:Big
Remediation
Workaround
Blacklist the esp4, esp6, and rxrpc modules with modprobe.d, unload them if present, and for ESP-only mitigation on systems that must keep IPsec available, disable unprivileged user namespaces; expect IPsec or AFS/RxRPC functionality to break.

Blacklist the esp4, esp6, and rxrpc modules with modprobe.d, unload them if present, and for ESP-only mitigation on systems that must keep IPsec available, disable unprivileged user namespaces; expect IPsec or AFS/RxRPC functionality to break.

access.redhat.com
Patch

Not available

Update
Install a kernel package that includes the upstream ESP fix. AlmaLinux has released patched kernels 4.18.0-553.123.2.el8_10, 5.14.0-611.54.3.el9_7, and 6.12.0-124.55.2.el10_1 or later; other distributions should apply their vendor kernel update that backports the same fix.

Install a kernel package that includes the upstream ESP fix. AlmaLinux has released patched kernels 4.18.0-553.123.2.el8_10, 5.14.0-611.54.3.el9_7, and 6.12.0-124.55.2.el10_1 or later; other distributions should apply their vendor kernel update that backports the same fix.

almalinux.org
Threat Intelligence
EPSS Score0.0%

Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days

EPSS Percentile1%

Worse than 1% of all CVEs

Last updated: Loading...
CISAKEV
CISA KEV
Not Listed
Active Exploitation
Active
microsoft.com
Threat Actors

No known threat actors

Detection Rules5
Other
auditctl -a always,exit -F arch=b64 -S init_module,finit_module,delete_module -k kernel-module-change
Other
auditctl -a always,exit -F arch=b64 -S unshare,clone,clone3 -k namespace-create
Other
Unexpected AF_RXRPC socket creation
Other
Sensitive kernel module change involving esp4/esp6/rxrpc/ipcomp4/ipcomp6
Other
auditctl -w /usr/bin/su -p x -k su-exec

NVD Data

Published: Loading...Modified: Loading...

Description Summary

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: xfrm: esp: avoid in-place decrypt on shared skb frags MSG_SPLICE_PAGES can attach pages from a pipe directly to an skb. TCP marks such skbs with SKBFL_SHARED_FRAG after skb_splice_from_iter(), so later paths that may modify packet data can first make a private copy. The IPv4/IPv6 datagram append paths did not set this flag when splicing pages into UDP skbs. That leaves an ESP-in-UDP packet made from shared pipe pages looking like an ordinary uncloned nonlinear skb. ESP input then takes the no-COW fast path for uncloned skbs without a frag_list and decrypts in place over data that is not owned privately by the skb. Mark IPv4/IPv6 datagram splice frags with SKBFL_SHARED_FRAG, matching TCP. Also make ESP input fall back to skb_cow_data() when the flag is present, so ESP does not decrypt externally backed frags in place. Private nonlinear skb frags still use the existing fast path. This intentionally does not change ESP output. In esp_output_head(), the path that appends the ESP trailer to existing skb tailroom without calling skb_cow_data() is not reachable for nonlinear skbs: skb_tailroom() returns zero when skb->data_len is nonzero, while ESP tailen is positive. Thus ESP output will either use the separate destination-frag path or fall back to skb_cow_data().

CVSS Base Score

8.8
High

CVSS Vector (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H)

Attack Vector (AV)
Physical
Local
Adjacent
Network
Attack Complexity (AC)
High
Low
Privileges Required (PR)
High
Low
None
User Interaction (UI)
Required
None
Scope (S)
Unchanged
Changed
Confidentiality (C)
None
Low
High
Integrity (I)
None
Low
High
Availability (A)
None
Low
High
CWE:CWE-123 Write-what-where Condition
||
Version From:4.11
|
Version Upto:5.10.255

Affected Software (CPE) (1)

  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*