# CVE-2026-80850: tcp: fix AO info use-after-free in tcp_ao_connect_init()

> A race condition in Linux kernel TCP-AO handling allows local attackers to trigger a use-after-free, potentially leading to code execution or privilege escalation.

- **Severity:** Not scored
- **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:** 4 Sep 2026
- **Updated:** 19 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2026-80850, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-80850, GHSA-cpgq-xw99-wp3q, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-80850

## What is CVE-2026-80850?

CVE-2026-80850 is an use after free vulnerability in Linux, published on 4 Sep 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:

tcp: fix AO info use-after-free in tcp_ao_connect_init()

tcp_v4_connect() adds a SYN-SENT socket to the ehash before calling
tcp_connect().  If TCP-AO is configured, tcp_connect() first verifies that
a key matches the peer and the bound device's current L3 master.
tcp_ao_connect_init() later resolves the L3 master again and removes keys
which do not match it.

The socket lock does not stabilize the bound device's VRF membership.
Detaching the device from its VRF between the initial validation and the
L3-master calculation in tcp_ao_connect_init() can therefore make the
validation succeed while initialization observes the default L3 domain and
removes the only key.  The subsequent AO lookup then fails, so the no-key
path clears tp->ao_info and frees it directly.

The receive path can find the socket in the ehash and load tp->ao_info
under RCU before acquiring the socket lock.  A reader which loaded the old
pointer can thus continue into tcp_inbound_ao_hash() after the direct free.

The issue was found during a static audit of TCP-AO object lifetime.  An
unprivileged reproducer in self-created user and network namespaces raced
connect() with detaching a veth from its VRF while sending TCP-AO segments.
It triggered the same KASAN report on two fresh boots:

  BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in tcp_inbound_ao_hash+0x585/0x19f0
  Write of size 8 at addr ffff88800bf88128 by task tcp_ao_vrf_race/232

  Call Trace:
   tcp_inbound_ao_hash+0x585/0x19f0
   tcp_inbound_hash+0x677/0xa80
   tcp_v4_rcv+0x1c3e/0x3ab0

  Allocated by task 235:
   tcp_ao_alloc_info+0x43/0xf0
   tcp_ao_add_cmd+0xdf7/0x13b0
   do_tcp_setsockopt+0x168c/0x2640

  Freed by task 235:
   kfree+0x1b8/0x550
   tcp_connect+0x252/0x4f00
   tcp_v4_connect+0x1114/0x1720

The bad address is 40 bytes inside the freed 128-byte object, matching the
tcp_ao_info counters.key_not_found field.  The two runs used 1000 attempts
each, reached the no-key path 366 and 411 times, and produced one and two
KASAN reports respectively.  With this change, the same reproducer reached
the no-key path 366 times in 1000 attempts without a KASAN report or oops.

Use tcp_ao_destroy_sock() for the no-key path.  It unpublishes the AO info,
updates the socket memory and static-key accounting, and defers the free
until after an RCU grace period.

Also drop the WARN_ON_ONCE() and its stale comment.  The VRF detach race
makes the no-key state reachable during normal operation, so it is a
handled condition rather than an impossible assertion.  On panic_on_warn
kernels the WARN would turn this handled race into a kernel panic.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-80850?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-80850?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-80850 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-80850 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-80850 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-80850 is an use after free vulnerability in Linux, published on 4 Sep 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-2026-80850 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: 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-2026-80850/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-80850/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-80850
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-80850
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-80850

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-80850/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.