# CVE-2026-71225: Libkcapi: iv reuse in libkcapi one-shot symmetric cipher chunking causes cipher state reset across chunk boundaries

> Attackers can weaken data confidentiality and integrity by exploiting IV reuse in libkcapi during large symmetric cipher operations.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 5 Aug 2026
- **Updated:** 22 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** ALPINE-CVE-2026-71225, AZL-94655, BELL-CVE-2026-71225, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-71225, GHSA-qv62-qmw8-96h9, OESA-2026-3575, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-71225

## What is CVE-2026-71225?

CVE-2026-71225 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Redhat Enterprise Linux, published on 5 Aug 2026. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A flaw was found in libkcapi. When performing one-shot symmetric cipher operations on large inputs (over 64 KiB) in stateful modes such as Counter (CTR) or Cipher Block Chaining (CBC), the library improperly reuses the Initialization Vector (IV) for each internal data chunk. A remote attacker could potentially exploit this by making an application that uses libkcapi process specially crafted large inputs. This can lead to a significant weakening of data confidentiality, as the repeated IV use can expose relationships in encrypted plaintext, and may also affect data integrity by causing incorrect cryptographic processing.

Weakness: CWE-330 (Use of Insufficiently Random Values)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-71225?

It affects 4 products.


Products: Redhat Enterprise Linux, Redhat Hardened Images, Redhat Openshift Container Platform, Smuellerdd Libkcapi.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-71225?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-71225 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-71225 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Redhat Enterprise Linux

- [CVE-2018-14667](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-14667/): Red Hat JBoss RichFaces Framework Expression Language Injection (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2021-20325](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-20325/): Missing fixes for CVE-2021-40438 and CVE-2021-26691 in the versions of httpd, as shipped in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.5.0, causes a securit (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2018-25011](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-25011/): Memory corruption in libwebp (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2018-25014](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-25014/): Other in libwebp (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2014-3585](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-3585/): Supply chain in redhat-upgrade-tool (critical 9.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-71225 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-71225 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Redhat Enterprise Linux, published on 5 Aug 2026. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-71225 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Redhat Enterprise Linux. 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-2026-71225/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-71225/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-71225
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-71225
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-71225

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-71225/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.