# CVE-2026-46193: xfrm: ah: account for ESN high bits in async callbacks

> Incorrect memory offset handling in Linux kernel AH async callbacks with ESN causes packet loss and denial of service.

- **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:** 28 May 2026
- **Updated:** 15 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-88958, BELL-CVE-2026-46193, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-46193, GHSA-h5pr-w979-v38m, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2026-46193, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2026-46193, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2026-46193, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2026-46193, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-46193

## What is CVE-2026-46193?

CVE-2026-46193 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 28 May 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:

xfrm: ah: account for ESN high bits in async callbacks

AH allocates its temporary auth/ICV layout differently when ESN is enabled:
the async ahash setup appends a 4-byte seqhi slot before the ICV or
auth_data area, but the async completion callbacks still reconstruct the
temporary layout as if seqhi were absent.

With an async AH implementation selected, that makes AH copy or compare
the wrong bytes on both the IPv4 and IPv6 paths. In UML repro on IPv4 AH
with ESN and forced async hmac(sha1), ping fails with 100% packet loss,
and the callback logs show the pre-fix drift:

  ah4 output_done: esn=1 err=0 icv_off=20 expected_off=24
  ah4 input_done: esn=1 auth_off=20 expected_auth_off=24 icv_off=32 expected_icv_off=36

Reconstruct the callback-side layout the same way the setup path built it
by skipping the ESN seqhi slot before locating the saved auth_data or ICV.
Per RFC 4302, the ESN high-order 32 bits participate in the AH ICV
computation, so the async callbacks must account for the seqhi slot.

Post-fix, the same IPv4 AH+ESN+forced-async-hmac(sha1) UML repro shows
the corrected offset (ah4 output_done: esn=1 err=0 icv_off=24
expected_off=24) and ping succeeds; net/ipv4/ah4.o and net/ipv6/ah6.o
build clean at W=1. IPv6 AH+ESN was not exercised at runtime, and the
change has not been tested against a real async hardware AH engine.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-46193?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-46193?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-46193 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-46193 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-2026-46193 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-46193 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 28 May 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-2026-46193 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-2026-46193/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-46193/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-46193
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-46193
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-46193

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-46193/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.