CVE-2026-46033

What it is

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: crypto: authencesn - reject short ahash digests during instance creation authencesn requires either a zero authsize or an authsize of at least 4 bytes because the ESN encrypt/decrypt paths always move 4 bytes of high-order sequence number data at the end of the authenticated data. While crypto_authenc_esn_setauthsize() already rejects explicit non-zero authsizes in the range 1..3, crypto_authenc_esn_create() still copied auth->digestsize into inst->alg.maxauthsize without validating it. The AEAD core then initialized the tfm's default authsize from that value. As a result, selecting an ahash with digest size 1..3, such as cbcmac(cipher_null), exposed authencesn instances whose default authsize was invalid even though setauthsize() would have rejected the same value. AF_ALG could then trigger the ESN tail handling with a too-short tag and hit an out-of-bounds access. Reject authencesn instances whose ahash digest size is in the invalid non-zero range 1..3 so that no tfm can inherit an unsupported default authsize.

At a glance

Exploitability

Can be exploited locally on the machine with a low-privilege account. High risk of data exposure, service disruption.

Exploit odds

0.1% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days (EPSS).

Fix

A patch, advisory or fixed version is referenced. Upgrade or apply it.

Timeline

1. 2026-05-27 14:17 UTC PublishedDisclosed publicly on CVE.org and NVD
2. 2026-10-15 02:19 UTC Last updatedMost recent change to the record

Details

Published

2026-05-27 14:17 UTC

Last modified

2026-10-15 02:19 UTC

Exploit probability

0.1% · EPSS, next 30 days

Weakness

CWE-125 · Out-of-bounds read

Record status

Modified

Affected

• Linux Kernel < 5.10.258
• Linux Kernel < 5.15.209
• Linux Kernel < 6.1.175
• Linux Kernel < 6.6.140
• Linux Kernel < 6.12.86
• Linux Kernel < 6.18.27
• Linux Kernel < 7.0.4
• Linux Kernel 7.1

Attack profile CVSS 3.1 · 7.1

Attack vector

Local

Complexity

Low

Privileges needed

Low

User interaction

None

Scope

Unchanged

Confidentiality

High

Integrity

None

Availability

High