CRITICAL Introduced in 6.16
ovpn PeerRehash UAF
CVE-2026-74727
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
KernelScan AI8.1HIGH
01Description
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().
02KernelScan AI Analysis
Risk summary
A race condition in the ovpn (OpenVPN kernel module) peer management code allows a concurrently-removed peer to be re-inserted into hash lookup tables, creating a use-after-free when the peer is later freed. A remote authenticated VPN peer can trigger this via the address-float path while keepalive expiry or socket teardown concurrently removes the peer. The resulting kernel memory corruption can lead to information disclosure, privilege escalation, or system crash.
Vulnerability analysis
A race condition in the ovpn peer management code allows a peer that has been concurrently removed from all lookup tables to be re-inserted back into those tables by a late-arriving rehash operation. The removal can happen via keepalive expiry, socket teardown, or a concurrent netlink delete command, while the rehash is triggered either by a netlink peer-update command or by the float path when a remote peer sends a packet from a new source address. Once resurrected in the hash tables, the peer becomes reachable again from packet lookup paths even though userspace believes it is gone; when the final reference is dropped the peer is freed while its embedded hash entries remain linked, creating a use-after-free. The fix adds a check under the ovpn lock that skips the rehash if the peer has already been unhashed from the by_id table, preventing re-insertion of a removed peer. This race is reachable by a remote authenticated VPN peer through the float path, or locally by a user with CAP_NET_ADMIN issuing concurrent peer set and delete operations via netlink.
Lifecycle
03Fix Versions
| Branch | Introduced | Fixed in | Patch commit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6.18 | 6.16 | 6.18.45 | d20c18108898 |
| 7.1 | 6.16 | 7.1.9 | 667454802987 |
| mainline | 6.16 | 7.2 | 33ec10567fe1 |