Answer in brief
CVE-2026-72072 records a High severity (CVSS 7.8) vulnerability in net/mlx5e: macsec: fix use-after-free of metadata_dst on RX SC delete. The current sources do not mark it as known exploited. The current feed maps Linux/Linux (generic), Linux/Linux (generic). Check affected ranges and fixed versions before updating.
Analysis pending evidence review
HOL Guard separates source facts from reviewed analysis. See the methodology.
CVSS is 7.8. The current sources do not mark it as known exploited. Treat this as a source-backed prioritization signal, not a statement about your environment.
Analysis status
Analysis pending evidence review
Factual feed record only; HOL analysis is not approved for indexing. Read the methodology.
The current feed maps Linux/Linux (generic), Linux/Linux (generic). Check affected ranges and fixed versions before updating.
| Package | Affected range | Fixed version |
|---|---|---|
| Linux/Linuxgeneric | >=b7c9400cbc48c3713190b3bce4e0c87e924e4104 <b1a4d0c568bbb52c7c04f4fce3c097dae89ed6cb || >=b7c9400cbc48c3713190b3bce4e0c87e924e4104 <218cc15a4c907659ad4b0e68c535c61594311205 || >=b7c9400cbc48c3713190b3bce4e0c87e924e4104 <4a5073b7b30243658f58b2d2d35a823da7fd34d9 || >=b7c9400cbc48c3713190b3bce4e0c87e924e4104 <ed3cc4218070d6b98bf5fb456dccae424fd38c4f || >=b7c9400cbc48c3713190b3bce4e0c87e924e4104 <088873af13590ebde10de2ade847f57a05ec61c6 || >=b7c9400cbc48c3713190b3bce4e0c87e924e4104 <de74d8fd10291763d97b218f09adcc7513c975e4 | b1a4d0c568bbb52c7c04f4fce3c097dae89ed6cb, 218cc15a4c907659ad4b0e68c535c61594311205, 4a5073b7b30243658f58b2d2d35a823da7fd34d9, ed3cc4218070d6b98bf5fb456dccae424fd38c4f, 088873af13590ebde10de2ade847f57a05ec61c6, de74d8fd10291763d97b218f09adcc7513c975e4 |
| Linux/Linuxgeneric | 6.1 | Not reported |
Published upstream
Aug 15, 2026
Evidence: source:cvelist:source_dates:source-dates:recordSource modified
Aug 17, 2026
Evidence: source:cvelist:source_dates:source-dates:recordFirst seen by HOL
Aug 15, 2026
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net/mlx5e: macsec: fix use-after-free of metadata_dst on RX SC delete When an offloaded MACsec RX SC is deleted, macsec_del_rxsc_ctx() freed the per-SC metadata_dst with metadata_dst_free(), which kfree()s the object unconditionally and ignores the dst reference count. The RX datapath in mlx5e_macsec_offload_handle_rx_skb() looks up the SC under rcu_read_lock() via xa_load(), takes a reference with dst_hold() and attaches the dst to the skb with skb_dst_set(). A reader that already obtained the rx_sc pointer can race with the delete path and operate on freed memory. Fix the owner side by dropping the reference with dst_release() instead of freeing unconditionally, and convert the RX datapath to dst_hold_safe() so a reader racing the SC delete cannot attach a dst whose last reference was just dropped; only attach it when a reference was actually taken. mlx5e_macsec_add_rxsc() also published sc_xarray_element via xa_alloc() before rx_sc->md_dst was allocated and initialised, so a datapath reader that looked the SC up by fs_id could observe rx_sc with md_dst still NULL or, on weakly-ordered architectures, a non-NULL md_dst pointer whose contents were not yet visible. NULL-check the xa_load() result and md_dst on the datapath, and reorder add_rxsc() so the xa_alloc() publish happens only after md_dst is fully initialised; the xarray RCU publish then pairs with the rcu_read_lock()/xa_load() in the datapath. Note: macsec_del_rxsc_ctx() also kfree()s rx_sc->sc_xarray_element without an RCU grace period while the same datapath reads it under rcu_read_lock(); that is a separate pre-existing issue left to a follow-up patch. Found by 0sec automated security-research tooling (https://0sec.ai).
Quoted source text, attributed separately from HOL analysis.