Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2026-53302

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-06-26
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 6.18.33 / 7.0.10 or later.
See remediation →
57/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Zero-click Patch available 8 weeks old

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: crypto: eip93 - fix hmac setkey algo selection eip93_hmac_setkey() allocates a temporary ahash transform for computing HMAC ipad/opad key material. The allocation uses the driver-specific cra_driver_name (e.g. "sha256-eip93") but passes CRYPTO_ALG_ASYNC as the mask, which excludes async algorithms. Since the EIP93 hash algorithms are the only ones registered under those driver names and they are inherently async, the lookup is self-contradictory and always fails with -ENOENT. When called from the AEAD setkey path, this failure leaves the SA record partially initialized with zeroed digest fields. A subsequent crypto operation then dereferences a NULL pointer in the request context, resulting in a kernel panic: ``` pc : eip93_aead_handle_result+0xc8c/0x1240 [crypto_hw_eip93] lr : eip93_aead_handle_result+0xbec/0x1240 [crypto_hw_eip93] sp : ffffffc082feb820 x29: ffffffc082feb820 x28: ffffff8011043980 x27: 0000000000000000 x26: 0000000000000000 x25: ffffffc078da0bc8 x24: 0000000091043980 x23: ffffff8004d59e50 x22: ffffff8004d59410 x21: ffffff8004d593c0 x20: ffffff8004d593c0 x19: ffffff8004d4f300 x18: 0000000000000000 x17: 0000000000000000 x16: 0000000000000000 x15: 0000007fda7aa498 x14: 0000000000000000 x13: 0000000000000000 x12: 0000000000000000 x11: 0000000000000000 x10: fffffffff8127a80 x9 : 0000000000000000 x8 : ffffff8004d4f380 x7 : 0000000000000000 x6 : 000000000000003f x5 : 0000000000000040 x4 : 0000000000000008 x3 : 0000000000000009 x2 : 0000000000000008 x1 : 0000000028000003 x0 : ffffff8004d388c0 Code: 910142b6 f94012e0 f9002aa0 f90006d3 (f9400740) ``` The reported symbol eip93_aead_handle_result+0xc8c is a resolution artifact from static functions being merged under the nearest exported symbol. Decoding the faulting sequence: ``` 910142b6 ADD X22, X21, #0x50 f94012e0 LDR X0, [X23, #0x20] f9002aa0 STR X0, [X21, #0x50] f90006d3 STR X19, [X22, #0x8] f9400740 LDR X0, [X26, #0x8] ``` The faulting LDR at [X26, #0x8] is loading ctx->flags (offset 8 in eip93_hash_ctx), where ctx has been resolved to NULL from a partially initialized or unreachable transform context following the failed setkey. Fix this by dropping the CRYPTO_ALG_ASYNC mask from the crypto_alloc_ahash() call. The code already handles async completion correctly via crypto_wait_req(), so there is no requirement to restrict the lookup to synchronous algorithms. Note that hashing a single 64-byte block through the hardware is likely slower than doing it in software due to the DMA round-trip overhead, but offloading it may still spare CPU cycles on the slower embedded cores where this IP is found. [Detailed investigation report of this bug]

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis
How this class of weakness works · CWE-476

The code follows a pointer that is null, crashing the process. An attacker who can reliably trigger it turns the crash into a denial of service. The fix is checking for null before use and handling the failure path gracefully.

General guidance for the null pointer dereference class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Linux KernelOperating system
Affected:>= 6.15, < 6.18.33>= 6.19, < 7.0.10

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 6.18.33 / 7.0.10 or later
Fixed in 6.18.337.0.10
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

6.18.33 or 7.0.10

  1. Apply the vendor patch commit 3ba3b02f897b14e34977e1886d95ffe64d907204 to the Linux kernel source code. This patch removes the CRYPTO_ALG_ASYNC mask from the crypto_alloc_ahash() call in drivers/crypto/eip93/.../hmac setkey functions.
  2. Rebuild the kernel with the fix applied.
  3. Deploy the updated kernel to affected systems.

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

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