CVE-2026-80521

CVE-2026-80521

High · published August 26, 2026

CVSS v3.1
7.8
EPSS
0%
Percentile
6.1
In the wild
Unconfirmed
What it is

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

af_unix: Unlink scc_entry in unix_del_edge().

Kyle Zeng reported that GC could free a dead SCC partially.

The scenario is as follows:

1) Create two SCCs:

X -. A <-> B

^--'

2) Run the following concurrently:

2-1) send() sk-B to sk-B from sk-X

2-2) close() both A and B

At 2-1), there is a small window where unix_add_edges()

publishes a new edge (B <-> B) to GC but its skb is not queued

by skb_queue_tail().

If 2-2) completes before skb_queue_tail() and GC is triggered,

it judges A <-> B as dead, but B is not freed because GC cannot

collect the not-yet-queued skb holding the B <-> B edge.

X -. A <-> B -. This edge is visible

^--' ^..' but skb is not

This itself is not a problem since the next GC run will judge

B as dead as well and free it finally.

X -. A <.> B -.

^--' ^--'

However, X's SCC forces the next GC to call unix_walk_scc_fast(),

and it iterates over A through B's scc_entry.

Let's unlink scc_entry before freeing the vertex in unix_del_edge().

The record
Technical detail
CVSS v3.1
7.8 · HIGH
Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CVSS v4.0
Not supplied
EPSS
0.00170 · 6.1th percentile
Published
2026-08-26T19:17Z
References (6)
EPSS history
Timeline
  • 28 AUG 06:54Z
    EPSS moved — → 0%
    epss
  • 26 AUG 14:37Z
    af_unix: Unlink scc_entry in unix_del_edge().
    cvelistv5