CVE-2026-23060 crypto: authencesn - reject too-short AAD (assoclen<8) to match ESP/ESN spec

What is CVE-2026-23060?

CVE-2026-23060 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 4 Feb 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: authencesn - reject too-short AAD (assoclen<8) to match ESP/ESN spec

authencesn assumes an ESP/ESN-formatted AAD. When assoclen is shorter than the minimum expected length, crypto_authenc_esn_decrypt() can advance past the end of the destination scatterlist and trigger a NULL pointer dereference in scatterwalk_map_and_copy(), leading to a kernel panic (DoS).

Add a minimum AAD length check to fail fast on invalid inputs.

Weakness: CWE-476

Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-23060?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2026-23060?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Is CVE-2026-23060 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-23060 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

• CVE-2026-53266 Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2013-6282 Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2022-0185 Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2013-2094 Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2026-53362 Linux Kernel Unspecified Exploited High 7.8

All Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as AZL-77115, BELL-CVE-2026-23060, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-23060, GHSA-34wc-9m9j-23pc, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2026-23060, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2026-23060 and 3 more.