CVE-2026-31518: esp: fix skb leak with espintcp and async crypto

Severity: medium (CVSS 5.5 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.1% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2026-04-22 · updated 2026-10-15
Weakness: CWE-401

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: esp: fix skb leak with espintcp and async crypto When the TX queue for espintcp is full, esp_output_tail_tcp will return an error and not free the skb, because with synchronous crypto, the common xfrm output code will drop the packet for us. With async crypto (esp_output_done), we need to drop the skb when esp_output_tail_tcp returns an error.

Affected products

Linux kernel: from 5.6 before 5.10.253; from 5.11 before 5.15.203; from 5.16 before 6.1.168; from 6.2 before 6.6.131; from 6.7 before 6.12.80; from 6.13 before 6.18.21 — fixed in 5.10.253, 5.15.203, 6.1.168, 6.12.80, 6.18.21, 6.19.11

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 5.10.253, 5.15.203, 6.1.168, 6.12.80. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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