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VulnerabilityPublished Updated

CVE-2026-74611: Linux kernel · tls: rx: restore msg_iter before TLS 1.3 optimistic retry

Affects Linux kernelSource GCVE Database

0
Authoritative record:CVE-2026-74611· Critical 9.8

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 9.8 Critical.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 13:47 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score
9.8Critical
How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.
EPSS
0.6% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 51% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Exploitation evidence

  1. Disclosed: evidence found.

    CVE published 22 Aug 2026

  2. Detectable: no evidence on record.

    No public nuclei template indexed

  3. Weaponised: no evidence on record.

    No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB

  4. Exploited in the wild: no evidence on record.

    Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation

  5. Observed by OffSeq Mirage: no evidence on record.

    No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 26 Oct 2026.

What to do

Affected software

ProductAffectedFixed in
Ubuntu 26.04 LTSlinuxpkg:deb/ubuntu/linux?arch=source&distro=resoluteOther threatsAffected
  • 6.17.0-5.5 – 7.0.0-31.31
21 affected builds
Fixed in–
Ubuntu 26.04 LTSlinux-awspkg:deb/ubuntu/linux-aws?arch=source&distro=resoluteOther threatsAffected
  • 6.17.0-1002.2 – 7.0.0-1012.12
13 affected builds
Fixed in–
Ubuntu 26.04 LTSlinux-azurepkg:deb/ubuntu/linux-azure?arch=source&distro=resoluteOther threatsAffected
  • 6.17.0-1003.3 – 7.0.0-1014.14
14 affected builds
Fixed in–
Ubuntu 26.04 LTSlinux-azure-fdepkg:deb/ubuntu/linux-azure-fde?arch=source&distro=resoluteOther threatsAffected
  • 7.0.0-1003.3 – 7.0.0-1013.13
8 affected builds
Fixed in–
Ubuntu 26.04 LTSlinux-gcppkg:deb/ubuntu/linux-gcp?arch=source&distro=resoluteOther threatsAffected
  • 6.17.0-1002.2 – 7.0.0-1011.11
11 affected builds
Fixed in–
Ubuntu 26.04 LTSlinux-gkepkg:deb/ubuntu/linux-gke?arch=source&distro=resoluteOther threatsAffected
  • 7.0.0-1002.3 – 7.0.0-1006.7
4 affected builds
Fixed in–

Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.

AI-suggested

A fix has been implemented in the Linux kernel to address this vulnerability by restoring the message iterator correctly before retrying decryption without zero-copy. Users should apply the official kernel updates that include this patch. Since this is a kernel-level vulnerability, upgrading to a patched kernel version is the recommended remediation. No additional mitigations are specified.

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: tls: rx: restore msg_iter before TLS 1.3 optimistic retry tls_decrypt_sg() advances msg->msg_iter when it maps user pages for the optimistic TLS 1.3 zero-copy path. If the decrypted record turns out not to be unpadded application data, tls_decrypt_sw() retries into a kernel skb, but leaves the iterator advanced. The subsequent copy from the skb then writes decrypted bytes again at a later point in the caller iovecs while recvmsg() reports only the post-retry length. A TLS peer can trigger this after the receiver enables TLS_RX_EXPECT_NO_PAD. Revert the iterator by the number of bytes consumed by the optimistic mapping before retrying without zero-copy. Add a selftest which sends a TLS 1.3 control record with TLS_RX_EXPECT_NO_PAD enabled and verifies that recvmsg() does not overwrite later iovecs beyond the returned length.

References

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