# CVE-2026-64043: ovpn: fix race between deleting interface and adding new peer

> A race condition in the Linux kernel OVPN module allows a local attacker to cause a denial of service by hanging the network device during interface deletion.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.7 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/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:** 19 Jul 2026
- **Updated:** 19 Jul 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2026-64043, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-64043, GHSA-74fm-4xxg-774p, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-64043

## What is CVE-2026-64043?

CVE-2026-64043 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 19 Jul 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:

ovpn: fix race between deleting interface and adding new peer

While deleting an existing ovpn interface, there is a very
narrow window where adding a new peer via netlink may cause
the netdevice to hang and prevent its unregistration.

It may happen during ovpn_dellink(), when all existing peers are
freed and the device is queued for deregistration, but a
CMD_PEER_NEW message comes in adding a new peer that takes again
a reference to the netdev.

At this point there is no way to release the device because we are
under the assumption that all peers were already released.

Fix the race condition by releasing all peers in ndo_uninit(),
when the netdevice has already been removed from the netdev
list.

Also ovpn_peer_add() has now an extra check that forces the
function to bail out if the device reg_state is not REGISTERED.
This way any incoming CMD_PEER_NEW racing with the interface
deletion routine will simply stop before adding the peer.

Note that the above check happens while holding the netdev_lock
to prevent racing netdev state changes.

ovpn_dellink() is now empty and can be removed.

Weakness: CWE-362 (Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-64043?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-64043?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-64043 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-64043 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-2026-64043 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-64043 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 19 Jul 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-2026-64043 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-2026-64043/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-64043/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-64043
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-64043
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-64043

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-64043/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.