CVE-2026-53197xfrm: iptfs: fix ABBA deadlock in iptfs_destroy_state()
- 5.5MediumCVSS base score
- 0.12%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 98% of all CVEs
- NoKnown exploitednot in CISA's KEV catalog
- NonePublic exploitsnone known yet
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: xfrm: iptfs: fix ABBA deadlock in iptfs_destroy_state() iptfs_destroy_state() calls hrtimer_cancel() while holding a spinlock that the timer callback also acquires, leading to an ABBA deadlock on SMP systems. For the output timer (iptfs_timer): - iptfs_destroy_state() holds x->lock, calls hrtimer_cancel() - iptfs_delay_timer() callback takes x->lock For the drop timer (drop_timer): - iptfs_destroy_state() holds drop_lock, calls hrtimer_cancel() - iptfs_drop_timer() callback takes drop_lock Both timers use HRTIMER_MODE_REL_SOFT, so their callbacks run in softirq context. When hrtimer_cancel() is called for a soft timer that is currently executing on another CPU, hrtimer_cancel_wait_running() spins on softirq_expiry_lock -- the same lock held by the softirq running the callback. If the callback is blocked waiting for the spinlock held by the caller of hrtimer_cancel(), a circular dependency forms: CPU 0: holds lock_A -> waits for softirq_expiry_lock CPU 1: holds softirq_expiry_lock -> waits for lock_A Fix by calling hrtimer_cancel() before acquiring the respective locks. hrtimer_cancel() is safe to call without holding any lock and will wait for any in-progress callback to complete. For the output timer, the lock is still acquired afterwards to drain the packet queue. For the drop timer, the lock/unlock pair is removed entirely since it only existed to serialize with the timer callback, which hrtimer_cancel() already guarantees. Found by source code audit.
Timeline
ID reserved
By Linux
- 16 days later
· 16 days later
Published
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| NVDNVD · Analyzed | 3.1 | Medium5.5 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 0.12% · top 98% of all CVEs (13 Nov 2026)
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: Medium 5.5.
Affected products
- affected 4b3faf610cc63bfac972711635eafbca5e7d7117 – < a13ca53e47e500854a3b9ec18b5dc83acfec863e
- affected 4b3faf610cc63bfac972711635eafbca5e7d7117 – < 822b98d354e63e8249e85473c5f3c519f3c9cecc
- affected 4b3faf610cc63bfac972711635eafbca5e7d7117 – < c8a8a75b733467b00c08b91a38dbaf207a08ed6e
- affected 6.14
- unaffected < 6.14
- unaffected 6.18.36 – ≤ 6.18.*
- unaffected 7.0.13 – ≤ 7.0.*
- unaffected 7.1 – ≤ *
References
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- EUVD EUVD-2026-39288 (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2026-53197)Record last updated .