Bug 2521379 (CVE-2026-74727)

Summary: CVE-2026-74727 kernel: ovpn: skip rehash for peers already removed from by_id
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
Status: NEW --- QA Contact:
Severity: medium Docs Contact:
Priority: medium    
Version: unspecifiedCC: rhel-process-autobot, watson-tool-maintainers
Target Milestone: ---Keywords: Security
Target Release: ---   
Hardware: All   
OS: Linux   
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A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's ovpn module. A race condition can occur when an OpenVPN (ovpn) peer is removed concurrently while the system attempts to rehash it. This can lead to the peer being re-inserted into internal tables after it has been logically removed, creating a Use-After-Free (UAF) vulnerability. This flaw could allow an attacker to cause a denial of service or potentially execute arbitrary code.
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oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-08-22 15:42:38 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

ovpn: skip rehash for peers already removed from by_id

ovpn_nl_peer_set_doit() resolves the target peer via
ovpn_peer_get_by_id() before taking ovpn->lock. In the window between
the lookup (which only takes a refcount) and the subsequent
spin_lock_bh(&ovpn->lock), a concurrent OVPN_CMD_PEER_DEL, keepalive
expiry, or socket teardown can take ovpn->lock first, run
ovpn_peer_remove() to unhash the peer from all four tables (by_id,
by_vpn_addr4/6, by_transp_addr) and release the lock. set_doit then
acquires ovpn->lock and calls ovpn_peer_hash_vpn_ip(), which
re-inserts the now-removed peer back into the rehashing tables.

The same race affects the float path: ovpn_peer_endpoints_update()
holds only a refcount and acquires ovpn->lock very late (after async
AEAD decrypt and a netlink notification), then rehashes the peer
in the by_transp_addr table.

The resurrected peer becomes reachable again from the RX lookup
(ovpn_peer_get_by_transp_addr) and the TX VPN-IP lookup, even though
userspace believes it is gone. Once the data-path refcount drops the
peer is freed via call_rcu while the hash entries embedded in it
remain linked, opening a UAF window.

Bail out of the rehash when hash_entry_id is unhashed, mirroring
the sentinel already used by ovpn_peer_remove() to detect the
already-removed state. The check is safe under ovpn->lock, which
serializes every mutation of hash_entry_id, and is a no-op for the
add path because ovpn_peer_add_mp() inserts hash_entry_id before
calling ovpn_peer_hash_vpn_ip().