Linux: >> Linux Kernel >> 4.20.1 Security Vulnerabilities
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
apparmor: fix memory leak in verify_header
The function sets `*ns = NULL` on every call, leaking the namespace
string allocated in previous iterations when multiple profiles are
unpacked. This also breaks namespace consistency checking since *ns
is always NULL when the comparison is made.
Remove the incorrect assignment.
The caller (aa_unpack) initializes *ns to NULL once before the loop,
which is sufficient.
CVSS Score
5.5
EPSS Score
0.0
Published
2026-04-01
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
apparmor: replace recursive profile removal with iterative approach
The profile removal code uses recursion when removing nested profiles,
which can lead to kernel stack exhaustion and system crashes.
Reproducer:
$ pf='a'; for ((i=0; i<1024; i++)); do
echo -e "profile $pf { \n }" | apparmor_parser -K -a;
pf="$pf//x";
done
$ echo -n a > /sys/kernel/security/apparmor/.remove
Replace the recursive __aa_profile_list_release() approach with an
iterative approach in __remove_profile(). The function repeatedly
finds and removes leaf profiles until the entire subtree is removed,
maintaining the same removal semantic without recursion.
CVSS Score
5.5
EPSS Score
0.0
Published
2026-04-01
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
nfnetlink_osf: validate individual option lengths in fingerprints
nfnl_osf_add_callback() validates opt_num bounds and string
NUL-termination but does not check individual option length fields.
A zero-length option causes nf_osf_match_one() to enter the option
matching loop even when foptsize sums to zero, which matches packets
with no TCP options where ctx->optp is NULL:
Oops: general protection fault
KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000000-0x0000000000000007]
RIP: 0010:nf_osf_match_one (net/netfilter/nfnetlink_osf.c:98)
Call Trace:
nf_osf_match (net/netfilter/nfnetlink_osf.c:227)
xt_osf_match_packet (net/netfilter/xt_osf.c:32)
ipt_do_table (net/ipv4/netfilter/ip_tables.c:293)
nf_hook_slow (net/netfilter/core.c:623)
ip_local_deliver (net/ipv4/ip_input.c:262)
ip_rcv (net/ipv4/ip_input.c:573)
Additionally, an MSS option (kind=2) with length < 4 causes
out-of-bounds reads when nf_osf_match_one() unconditionally accesses
optp[2] and optp[3] for MSS value extraction. While RFC 9293
section 3.2 specifies that the MSS option is always exactly 4
bytes (Kind=2, Length=4), the check uses "< 4" rather than
"!= 4" because lengths greater than 4 do not cause memory
safety issues -- the buffer is guaranteed to be at least
foptsize bytes by the ctx->optsize == foptsize check.
Reject fingerprints where any option has zero length, or where an MSS
option has length less than 4, at add time rather than trusting these
values in the packet matching hot path.
CVSS Score
7.1
EPSS Score
0.001
Published
2026-03-26
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
icmp: fix NULL pointer dereference in icmp_tag_validation()
icmp_tag_validation() unconditionally dereferences the result of
rcu_dereference(inet_protos[proto]) without checking for NULL.
The inet_protos[] array is sparse -- only about 15 of 256 protocol
numbers have registered handlers. When ip_no_pmtu_disc is set to 3
(hardened PMTU mode) and the kernel receives an ICMP Fragmentation
Needed error with a quoted inner IP header containing an unregistered
protocol number, the NULL dereference causes a kernel panic in
softirq context.
Oops: general protection fault, probably for non-canonical address 0xdffffc0000000002: 0000 [#1] SMP KASAN NOPTI
KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000010-0x0000000000000017]
RIP: 0010:icmp_unreach (net/ipv4/icmp.c:1085 net/ipv4/icmp.c:1143)
Call Trace:
<IRQ>
icmp_rcv (net/ipv4/icmp.c:1527)
ip_protocol_deliver_rcu (net/ipv4/ip_input.c:207)
ip_local_deliver_finish (net/ipv4/ip_input.c:242)
ip_local_deliver (net/ipv4/ip_input.c:262)
ip_rcv (net/ipv4/ip_input.c:573)
__netif_receive_skb_one_core (net/core/dev.c:6164)
process_backlog (net/core/dev.c:6628)
handle_softirqs (kernel/softirq.c:561)
</IRQ>
Add a NULL check before accessing icmp_strict_tag_validation. If the
protocol has no registered handler, return false since it cannot
perform strict tag validation.
CVSS Score
5.5
EPSS Score
0.001
Published
2026-03-26
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
wifi: mac80211: fix NULL deref in mesh_matches_local()
mesh_matches_local() unconditionally dereferences ie->mesh_config to
compare mesh configuration parameters. When called from
mesh_rx_csa_frame(), the parsed action-frame elements may not contain a
Mesh Configuration IE, leaving ie->mesh_config NULL and triggering a
kernel NULL pointer dereference.
The other two callers are already safe:
- ieee80211_mesh_rx_bcn_presp() checks !elems->mesh_config before
calling mesh_matches_local()
- mesh_plink_get_event() is only reached through
mesh_process_plink_frame(), which checks !elems->mesh_config, too
mesh_rx_csa_frame() is the only caller that passes raw parsed elements
to mesh_matches_local() without guarding mesh_config. An adjacent
attacker can exploit this by sending a crafted CSA action frame that
includes a valid Mesh ID IE but omits the Mesh Configuration IE,
crashing the kernel.
The captured crash log:
Oops: general protection fault, probably for non-canonical address ...
KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000000-0x0000000000000007]
Workqueue: events_unbound cfg80211_wiphy_work
[...]
Call Trace:
<TASK>
? __pfx_mesh_matches_local (net/mac80211/mesh.c:65)
ieee80211_mesh_rx_queued_mgmt (net/mac80211/mesh.c:1686)
[...]
ieee80211_iface_work (net/mac80211/iface.c:1754 net/mac80211/iface.c:1802)
[...]
cfg80211_wiphy_work (net/wireless/core.c:426)
process_one_work (net/kernel/workqueue.c:3280)
? assign_work (net/kernel/workqueue.c:1219)
worker_thread (net/kernel/workqueue.c:3352)
? __pfx_worker_thread (net/kernel/workqueue.c:3385)
kthread (net/kernel/kthread.c:436)
[...]
ret_from_fork_asm (net/arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:255)
</TASK>
This patch adds a NULL check for ie->mesh_config at the top of
mesh_matches_local() to return false early when the Mesh Configuration
IE is absent.
CVSS Score
5.5
EPSS Score
0.001
Published
2026-03-26
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
xen/privcmd: restrict usage in unprivileged domU
The Xen privcmd driver allows to issue arbitrary hypercalls from
user space processes. This is normally no problem, as access is
usually limited to root and the hypervisor will deny any hypercalls
affecting other domains.
In case the guest is booted using secure boot, however, the privcmd
driver would be enabling a root user process to modify e.g. kernel
memory contents, thus breaking the secure boot feature.
The only known case where an unprivileged domU is really needing to
use the privcmd driver is the case when it is acting as the device
model for another guest. In this case all hypercalls issued via the
privcmd driver will target that other guest.
Fortunately the privcmd driver can already be locked down to allow
only hypercalls targeting a specific domain, but this mode can be
activated from user land only today.
The target domain can be obtained from Xenstore, so when not running
in dom0 restrict the privcmd driver to that target domain from the
beginning, resolving the potential problem of breaking secure boot.
This is XSA-482
---
V2:
- defer reading from Xenstore if Xenstore isn't ready yet (Jan Beulich)
- wait in open() if target domain isn't known yet
- issue message in case no target domain found (Jan Beulich)
CVSS Score
8.2
EPSS Score
0.0
Published
2026-03-25
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
Squashfs: check metadata block offset is within range
Syzkaller reports a "general protection fault in squashfs_copy_data"
This is ultimately caused by a corrupted index look-up table, which
produces a negative metadata block offset.
This is subsequently passed to squashfs_copy_data (via
squashfs_read_metadata) where the negative offset causes an out of bounds
access.
The fix is to check that the offset is within range in
squashfs_read_metadata. This will trap this and other cases.
CVSS Score
7.1
EPSS Score
0.0
Published
2026-03-25
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
ice: Fix memory leak in ice_set_ringparam()
In ice_set_ringparam, tx_rings and xdp_rings are allocated before
rx_rings. If the allocation of rx_rings fails, the code jumps to
the done label leaking both tx_rings and xdp_rings. Furthermore, if
the setup of an individual Rx ring fails during the loop, the code jumps
to the free_tx label which releases tx_rings but leaks xdp_rings.
Fix this by introducing a free_xdp label and updating the error paths to
ensure both xdp_rings and tx_rings are properly freed if rx_rings
allocation or setup fails.
Compile tested only. Issue found using a prototype static analysis tool
and code review.
CVSS Score
5.5
EPSS Score
0.0
Published
2026-03-25
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
netfilter: xt_CT: drop pending enqueued packets on template removal
Templates refer to objects that can go away while packets are sitting in
nfqueue refer to:
- helper, this can be an issue on module removal.
- timeout policy, nfnetlink_cttimeout might remove it.
The use of templates with zone and event cache filter are safe, since
this just copies values.
Flush these enqueued packets in case the template rule gets removed.
CVSS Score
7.8
EPSS Score
0.0
Published
2026-03-25
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
netfilter: nf_tables: release flowtable after rcu grace period on error
Call synchronize_rcu() after unregistering the hooks from error path,
since a hook that already refers to this flowtable can be already
registered, exposing this flowtable to packet path and nfnetlink_hook
control plane.
This error path is rare, it should only happen by reaching the maximum
number hooks or by failing to set up to hardware offload, just call
synchronize_rcu().
There is a check for already used device hooks by different flowtable
that could result in EEXIST at this late stage. The hook parser can be
updated to perform this check earlier to this error path really becomes
rarely exercised.
Uncovered by KASAN reported as use-after-free from nfnetlink_hook path
when dumping hooks.
CVSS Score
7.8
EPSS Score
0.0
Published
2026-03-25