CVE-2026-80520 ovpn: fix NULL dereference when killing missing key
A NULL pointer dereference in the Linux kernel's ovpn module allows a remote attacker to cause a denial of service by triggering a specific key removal path.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-80520?
CVE-2026-80520 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux, published on 26 Aug 2026. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Official description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
ovpn: fix NULL dereference when killing missing key
ovpn_crypto_kill_key assumes both crypto slots are populated and dereferences each slot before checking it. That is not guaranteed: a peer can have only one installed key, and the kill path may be asked to remove a key that is not present.
Read each slot once while holding the crypto state lock, check for NULL before looking at key_id, and only replace the slot that actually matches.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-80520?
How do I fix CVE-2026-80520?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Is CVE-2026-80520 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-80520 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2026-80520, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-80520, GHSA-v79r-cp4c-r8xr, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-80520.