Critical · published August 10, 2026
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
xfrm: fix stale skb->prev after async crypto steals a GSO segment
skb_gso_segment() leaves the segment list head with ->prev pointing at
the last segment, an invariant validate_xmit_skb_list() relies on when
it sets its tail pointer (tail = skb->prev).
When validate_xmit_xfrm() walks a GSO list and some segments are stolen
by async crypto (->xmit() returns -EINPROGRESS), those segments are
unlinked from the list but the head ->prev is never updated. If the
last segment is the one stolen, the returned head still has ->prev
pointing at it, even though it is now owned by the crypto engine and may
be freed. validate_xmit_skb_list() later does tail->next = skb, writing
through that stale pointer -- a use-after-free.
Repoint skb->prev at the last retained segment before returning.