CVE-2026-63925: macsec: fix replay protection at XPN lower-PN wrap

Severity: high (CVSS 8.1 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.3% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2026-07-19 · updated 2026-10-27
Weakness: CWE-190

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: macsec: fix replay protection at XPN lower-PN wrap In macsec_post_decrypt(), when pn is U32_MAX, pn + 1 overflows u32 to 0 and the first branch never fires. If next_pn_halves.lower is also in the upper half, pn_same_half(pn, lower) is true and the XPN else-if does not fire either, leaving next_pn_halves unchanged. An attacker that captures the legitimate frame carrying pn == 0xFFFFFFFF on an XPN association can then replay it indefinitely, since lowest_pn never rises above the captured pn and macsec_decrypt() reconstructs the same IV. Extend the XPN else-if to also fire when pn + 1 wraps to 0, so receipt of pn == U32_MAX advances next_pn_halves to (upper + 1, 0).

Affected products

Linux kernel: from 5.7 before 5.10.259; from 5.11 before 5.15.210; from 5.16 before 6.1.176; from 6.2 before 6.6.143; from 6.7 before 6.12.93; from 6.13 before 6.18.35 — fixed in 5.10.259, 5.15.210, 6.1.176, 6.6.143, 6.12.93, 6.18.35
Linux kernel: 5.7 — fixed in 7.1

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 5.10.259, 5.15.210, 6.1.176, 6.6.143; Linux kernel 7.1. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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