Linux Kernel OpenVPN Rehash Race Allows Unintended Peer Resurrection/UAF
CVE-2026-74727 Published on August 22, 2026
ovpn: skip rehash for peers already removed from by_id
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().
Products Associated with CVE-2026-74727
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Affected Versions
Linux:- Version 1d36a36f6d5347360ef9681a05f6166683bafd1d and below d20c181088984b6eaa8d7fe7cb5ab3510988df59 is affected.
- Version 1d36a36f6d5347360ef9681a05f6166683bafd1d and below 66745480298775f188b2f5ad266643e85a90f73b is affected.
- Version 1d36a36f6d5347360ef9681a05f6166683bafd1d and below 33ec10567fe14456063daf549fdf1a4f53448e4c is affected.
- Version 6.16 is affected.
- Before 6.16 is unaffected.
- Version 6.18.45, <= 6.18.* is unaffected.
- Version 7.1.9, <= 7.1.* is unaffected.
- Version 7.2, <= * is unaffected.