CVE-2026-31516
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: xfrm: prevent policy_hthresh.work from racing with netns teardown A XFRM_MSG_NEWSPDINFO request can queue the per-net work item policy_hthresh.work onto the system workqueue. The queued callback, xfrm_hash_rebuild(), retrieves the enclosing struct net via container_of(). If the net namespace is torn down before that work runs, the associated struct net may already have been freed, and xfrm_hash_rebuild() may then dereference stale memory. xfrm_policy_fini() already flushes policy_hash_work during teardown, but it does not synchronize policy_hthresh.work. Synchronize policy_hthresh.work in xfrm_policy_fini() as well, so the queued work cannot outlive the net namespace teardown and access a freed struct net.
Predictions
Heuristic predictions, AS-IS, for prioritization only.
Mitigations
No mitigations published for this CVE yet.
The vendor-content worker queues fetches as references arrive (check back in a few minutes). Or — if you've already worked around this in production — publish your fix to the community-verified tier.
✚ Propose a mitigation on Community → Mitigations published via the community go through AI scoring + 2 human reviewers + 7-day silent objection window before landing here withsource_tier=community-verified.
OS impact
Linux kernel Affected 3 releases
| Version | Status | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| 7.0 | Affected | — |
| 3.18 | Affected | — |
| — | Affected | 6.12.80 |
SUSE Affected 1 release
| Version | Status | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| — | Affected | — |
Debian Mixed 5 releases
| Version | Status | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| trixie | Fixed | 6.12.85-1 |
| sid | Fixed | 6.19.11-1 |
| forky | Fixed | 6.19.11-1 |
| bullseye | Affected | — |
| bookworm | Affected | — |
References
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/29fe3a61bcdce398ee3955101c39f89c01a8a77e
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4e2e77843fef473ef47e322d52436d8308582a96
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/56ea2257b83ee29a543f158159e3d1abc1e3e4fe
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8854e9367465d784046362698731c1111e3b39b8
- https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-31516.html
- https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2026-31516
CWEs
CWE-362
Community-verified mitigations for this CVE will appear above when contributors publish them.
Verify integrity in audit chain (admin only). AS-IS.