Critical severity · published Aug 15, 2026
CVE-2026-72137
xfrm: nat_keepalive: avoid double free on send error
9.8
CVSS
0.7%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: xfrm: nat_keepalive: avoid double free on send error nat_keepalive_send() frees the keepalive skb whenever the IPv4 or IPv6 send helper reports an error. That cleanup is only correct before the skb is handed to the output path. Once ip_build_and_send_pkt() or ip6_xmit() takes ownership, the networking stack may already have consumed the skb before returning an error, so freeing it again is unsafe. Handle the pre-handoff failure cases inside nat_keepalive_send_ipv4() and nat_keepalive_send_ipv6(), where the caller still owns the skb, and keep nat_keepalive_send() responsible only for family dispatch and the unsupported-family cleanup path.
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High
Scope
Unchanged
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)0.7% · higher than 53% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
LI
Linux · Linux
f531d13bdfe3f4f084aaa8acae2cb0f02295f5ae before d0a4dc7efa825bce60a8da8f7d43c864a159abde; f531d13bdfe3f4f084aaa8acae2cb0f02295f5ae before 5b0c4c916f202b8fd13d12afb6af62b385622f81; f531d13bdfe3f4f084aaa8acae2cb0f02295f5ae before a8a7e6a9ff8a4c1f067694ddbd44be67fdf36693; f531d13bdfe3f4f084aaa8acae2cb0f02295f5ae before 226f4a490d1a938fc838d8f8c46a4eca864c0d78; 6.11 · source: vendor
Affected product
LI
Linux
Linux
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