Bug 2446139 (CVE-2026-23240)

Summary: CVE-2026-23240 kernel: Linux kernel: Denial of service due to a race condition in the TLS subsystem
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
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Priority: medium    
Version: unspecifiedKeywords: Security
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Hardware: All   
OS: Linux   
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A flaw was found in the Linux kernel. A local user could exploit a race condition in the TLS (Transport Layer Security) subsystem's `tls_sw_cancel_work_tx()` function. This race condition may allow the system to dereference a freed TLS object, potentially leading to a denial of service.
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-03-10 18:05:11 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

tls: Fix race condition in tls_sw_cancel_work_tx()

This issue was discovered during a code audit.

After cancel_delayed_work_sync() is called from tls_sk_proto_close(),
tx_work_handler() can still be scheduled from paths such as the
Delayed ACK handler or ksoftirqd.
As a result, the tx_work_handler() worker may dereference a freed
TLS object.

The following is a simple race scenario:

          cpu0                         cpu1

tls_sk_proto_close()
  tls_sw_cancel_work_tx()
                                 tls_write_space()
                                   tls_sw_write_space()
                                     if (!test_and_set_bit(BIT_TX_SCHEDULED, &tx_ctx->tx_bitmask))
    set_bit(BIT_TX_SCHEDULED, &ctx->tx_bitmask);
    cancel_delayed_work_sync(&ctx->tx_work.work);
                                     schedule_delayed_work(&tx_ctx->tx_work.work, 0);

To prevent this race condition, cancel_delayed_work_sync() is
replaced with disable_delayed_work_sync().