{"dataType":"CVE_RECORD","dataVersion":"5.2","cveMetadata":{"cveId":"CVE-2026-80520","assignerOrgId":"416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67","state":"PUBLISHED","assignerShortName":"Linux","dateReserved":"2026-08-26T14:34:25.763Z","datePublished":"2026-08-26T14:37:01.983Z","dateUpdated":"2026-08-27T05:01:16.637Z"},"containers":{"cna":{"providerMetadata":{"orgId":"416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67","shortName":"Linux","dateUpdated":"2026-08-27T05:01:16.637Z"},"descriptions":[{"lang":"en","value":"In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\novpn: fix NULL dereference when killing missing key\n\novpn_crypto_kill_key assumes both crypto slots are populated and\ndereferences each slot before checking it. That is not guaranteed: a\npeer can have only one installed key, and the kill path may be asked to\nremove a key that is not present.\n\nRead each slot once while holding the crypto state lock, check for NULL\nbefore looking at key_id, and only replace the slot that actually\nmatches."}],"metrics":[{"cvssV3_1":{"version":"3.1","vectorString":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H","baseScore":7.5,"baseSeverity":"HIGH"},"scenarios":[{"lang":"en","value":"AV:N - The bug is reached from ovpn_encrypt_post during outbound VPN encryption over UDP/TCP; a remote authenticated OpenVPN peer can drive high-volume tunnel traffic that exhausts packet IDs and triggers ovpn_crypto_kill_key on internet-facing VPN concentrators.\nAC:L - After a normal rekey leaves one key in slots[1] with slots[0] NULL, IV exhaustion deterministically calls ovpn_crypto_kill_key and the NULL dereference is reliable; a remote peer can sustain the encrypted traffic needed to reach the 32-bit packet-ID limit.\nPR:N - Exploitation requires only an established OpenVPN data-channel session to an ovpn-offloaded interface, not local shell access, CAP_NET_ADMIN, or init-namespace root; no kernel configuration privileges are needed beyond being a connected VPN peer.\nUI:N - Triggering IV exhaustion and the subsequent key-kill path requires no victim user interaction beyond routine automated VPN traffic and key rotation already performed by the tunnel daemon.\nS:U - Impact is a kernel NULL-pointer fault and denial of service within the kernel network stack; it does not cross a security boundary such as guest-to-host escape or sandbox breakout.\nC:N - This is a pure NULL pointer dereference when reading key_id from an unpopulated crypto slot; it does not expose kernel memory, leak pointers, or provide an arbitrary read primitive.\nI:N - The fault occurs on a NULL slot lookup and does not corrupt memory or enable arbitrary writes, code execution, or control-flow hijacking beyond the immediate crash.\nA:H - The NULL dereference in ovpn_crypto_kill_key causes a kernel oops or panic when IV exhaustion triggers the key-kill path, fully denying service to the host and all VPN peers on that node."}]}],"affected":[{"product":"Linux","vendor":"Linux","defaultStatus":"unaffected","repo":"https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git","programFiles":["drivers/net/ovpn/crypto.c"],"versions":[{"version":"89d3c0e4612afa1c6429ed68d298e35592fbe208","lessThan":"a47a080d06ee9d94dc6a2da0fc2b9beeeedb92b3","status":"affected","versionType":"git"},{"version":"89d3c0e4612afa1c6429ed68d298e35592fbe208","lessThan":"acf32a5dff082044cf0fd9492f3c10b7357c15ee","status":"affected","versionType":"git"},{"version":"89d3c0e4612afa1c6429ed68d298e35592fbe208","lessThan":"41d44ac7a61e2f74453af40d4fe1b82af9ea0ada","status":"affected","versionType":"git"}]},{"product":"Linux","vendor":"Linux","defaultStatus":"affected","repo":"https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git","programFiles":["drivers/net/ovpn/crypto.c"],"versions":[{"version":"6.16","status":"affected"},{"version":"0","lessThan":"6.16","status":"unaffected","versionType":"semver"},{"version":"6.18.46","lessThanOrEqual":"6.18.*","status":"unaffected","versionType":"semver"},{"version":"7.1.10","lessThanOrEqual":"7.1.*","status":"unaffected","versionType":"semver"},{"version":"7.2","lessThanOrEqual":"*","status":"unaffected","versionType":"original_commit_for_fix"}]}],"cpeApplicability":[{"nodes":[{"operator":"OR","negate":false,"cpeMatch":[{"vulnerable":true,"criteria":"cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*","versionStartIncluding":"6.16","versionEndExcluding":"6.18.46"},{"vulnerable":true,"criteria":"cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*","versionStartIncluding":"6.16","versionEndExcluding":"7.1.10"},{"vulnerable":true,"criteria":"cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*","versionStartIncluding":"6.16","versionEndExcluding":"7.2"}]}]}],"references":[{"url":"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a47a080d06ee9d94dc6a2da0fc2b9beeeedb92b3"},{"url":"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/acf32a5dff082044cf0fd9492f3c10b7357c15ee"},{"url":"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/41d44ac7a61e2f74453af40d4fe1b82af9ea0ada"}],"title":"ovpn: fix NULL dereference when killing missing key","x_generator":{"engine":"bippy-1.2.0"}}}}