Bug 2436779 (CVE-2026-23060)

Summary: CVE-2026-23060 kernel: Linux kernel: Denial of Service in authencesn due to too-short AAD
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
Status: NEW --- QA Contact:
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Priority: medium    
Version: unspecifiedKeywords: Security
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OS: Linux   
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A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's authencesn authenticated encryption with associated data implementation. A remote attacker can exploit this vulnerability by providing a specially crafted Associated Additional Data with a length shorter than the expected minimum. This can lead to a NULL pointer dereference, causing a kernel panic and resulting in a Denial of Service.
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-02-04 17:02:59 UTC 
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

crypto: authencesn - reject too-short AAD (assoclen<8) to match ESP/ESN spec

authencesn assumes an ESP/ESN-formatted AAD. When assoclen is shorter than
the minimum expected length, crypto_authenc_esn_decrypt() can advance past
the end of the destination scatterlist and trigger a NULL pointer dereference
in scatterwalk_map_and_copy(), leading to a kernel panic (DoS).

Add a minimum AAD length check to fail fast on invalid inputs.
Comment 1 Jon Moroney 2026-02-05 00:02:21 UTC 
Upstream advisory:
https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/2026020414-CVE-2026-23060-6a41@gregkh/T