# CVE-2025-71113: crypto: af_alg - zero initialize memory allocated via sock_kmalloc

> Uninitialized memory in Linux kernel crypto API can leak sensitive data or cause random denial of service errors.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 14 Jan 2026
- **Updated:** 19 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-74612, BELL-CVE-2025-71113, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-71113, GHSA-6h29-m378-mh9x, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2025-71113, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2025-71113, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-13-CVE-2025-71113, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2025-71113, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-71113, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-71113

## What is CVE-2025-71113?

CVE-2025-71113 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 14 Jan 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

crypto: af_alg - zero initialize memory allocated via sock_kmalloc

Several crypto user API contexts and requests allocated with
sock_kmalloc() were left uninitialized, relying on callers to
set fields explicitly. This resulted in the use of uninitialized
data in certain error paths or when new fields are added in the
future.

The ACVP patches also contain two user-space interface files:
algif_kpp.c and algif_akcipher.c. These too rely on proper
initialization of their context structures.

A particular issue has been observed with the newly added
'inflight' variable introduced in af_alg_ctx by commit:

  67b164a871af ("crypto: af_alg - Disallow multiple in-flight AIO requests")

Because the context is not memset to zero after allocation,
the inflight variable has contained garbage values. As a result,
af_alg_alloc_areq() has incorrectly returned -EBUSY randomly when
the garbage value was interpreted as true:

  https://github.com/gregkh/linux/blame/master/crypto/af_alg.c#L1209

The check directly tests ctx->inflight without explicitly
comparing against true/false. Since inflight is only ever set to
true or false later, an uninitialized value has triggered
-EBUSY failures. Zero-initializing memory allocated with
sock_kmalloc() ensures inflight and other fields start in a known
state, removing random issues caused by uninitialized data.

Weakness: CWE-908 (Use of Uninitialized Resource), CWE-119 (Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-71113?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-71113?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-71113 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-71113 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

- [CVE-2026-53266](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53266/): Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-6282](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-6282/): Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-0185](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-0185/): Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-2094](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-2094/): Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-53362](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53362/): Linux Kernel Unspecified (high 7.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2025-71113 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-71113 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 14 Jan 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-71113 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux kernel. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-71113/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-71113/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-71113
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-71113
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-71113

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-71113/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.