Is CVE-2026-92489 exploited in the wild?

No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2026-92489 being exploited in the wild.

How severe is CVE-2026-92489?

Critical severity, with a CVSS score of 9.8, published 17 September 2026.

Which products and versions are affected?

Linux Kernel Affected versions prior to fix commit 2aed51fc58d9ce450e2c116efb956160fd06fa02; introduced by commit 5eddd76ec2fd.

Is there a fix for CVE-2026-92489?

A patch was published on 2026-07-22: Fix commit 2aed51fc58d9ce450e2c116efb956160fd06fa02 authored Junglewise finds every place you run it, drafts the upgrade and applies it once you approve.

How is CVE-2026-92489 attacked?

It is attacked over the network, in an operating system.

Am I affected by CVE-2026-92489?

Check whether you run Linux Kernel at an affected version. Junglewise does that check for you around the clock: connect your code, cloud and domains, and it matches new vulnerabilities like this one against what you actually run and tells you when one reaches you.

CVE-2026-92489: Linux kernel double-free in xfrm_dev_direct_output

CVE-2026-92489 · Severity: critical · CVSS 9.8 · Published 2026-09-17

The Linux kernel's IPsec transform (xfrm) module has a double-free memory bug in its packet offloading code path. When netfilter drops an encrypted packet during transmission, the kernel incorrectly frees memory that was already freed or transferred to another owner, causing a kernel crash or memory corruption that could lead to system instability or privilege escalation.

Technologies: Linux Kernel. Vendors: Linux.

Quick answers

Is CVE-2026-92489 exploited in the wild?: No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2026-92489 being exploited in the wild.
How severe is CVE-2026-92489?: Critical severity, with a CVSS score of 9.8, published 17 September 2026.
Which products and versions are affected?: Linux Kernel Affected versions prior to fix commit 2aed51fc58d9ce450e2c116efb956160fd06fa02; introduced by commit 5eddd76ec2fd.
Is there a fix for CVE-2026-92489?: A patch was published on 2026-07-22: Fix commit 2aed51fc58d9ce450e2c116efb956160fd06fa02 authored Junglewise finds every place you run it, drafts the upgrade and applies it once you approve.
How is CVE-2026-92489 attacked?: It is attacked over the network, in an operating system.
Am I affected by CVE-2026-92489?: Check whether you run Linux Kernel at an affected version. Junglewise does that check for you around the clock: connect your code, cloud and domains, and it matches new vulnerabilities like this one against what you actually run and tells you when one reaches you.

Technical details

The vulnerability is a use-after-free caused by incorrect memory ownership handling in xfrm_dev_direct_output(). When the local_out() function returns a value other than 1, it indicates the socket buffer (skb) has been consumed or transferred; however, the vulnerable code still executes kfree_skb(), causing a double-free. The bug occurs in the IPsec packet offload TX path when netfilter processes packets. The fix removes the erroneous kfree_skb() call and returns the local_out() result directly, matching the ownership semantics used in xfrm_output_resume(). This is a kernel-space memory corruption issue reachable via network-based IPsec packet processing.

Affected products

Linux Linux Kernel Affected versions prior to fix commit 2aed51fc58d9ce450e2c116efb956160fd06fa02; introduced by commit 5eddd76ec2fd

Timeline

2026-09-17: disclosed: CVE-2026-92489 published
2026-07-22: patched: Fix commit 2aed51fc58d9ce450e2c116efb956160fd06fa02 authored
2026-09-14: other: Patch merged into stable kernel tree by Greg Kroah-Hartman

References

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