CVE-2026-31429

MEDIUMNVD 5.55.5
EchelonGraph scoreMEDIUM confidence

Score 5.5 from GitHub Security Advisory published 2026-04-20. NVD baseline CVSS 5.5; sources differ by 0.0.

Triggered by: GitHub Security Advisory CVSS
Sources: epss, ghsa, nvd
5.5EG
EchelonGraph verdictMonitorLow exploitation likelihood right now — keep watching.
  • Lower severity and no public exploit yet
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS PROB: 0%CVSS: 5.5Exploit: None knownExposed: 0

No vendor fix yet — apply a workaround or compensating control (WAF / firewall / segmentation) and watch for a patch.

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

net: skb: fix cross-cache free of KFENCE-allocated skb head

SKB_SMALL_HEAD_CACHE_SIZE is intentionally set to a non-power-of-2 value (e.g. 704 on x86_64) to avoid collisions with generic kmalloc bucket sizes. This ensures that skb_kfree_head() can reliably use skb_end_offset to distinguish skb heads allocated from skb_small_head_cache vs. generic kmalloc caches.

However, when KFENCE is enabled, kfence_ksize() returns the exact requested allocation size instead of the slab bucket size. If a caller (e.g. bpf_test_init) allocates skb head data via kzalloc() and the requested size happens to equal SKB_SMALL_HEAD_CACHE_SIZE, then slab_build_skb() -> ksize() returns that exact value. After subtracting skb_shared_info overhead, skb_end_offset ends up matching SKB_SMALL_HEAD_HEADROOM, causing skb_kfree_head() to incorrectly free the object to skb_small_head_cache instead of back to the original kmalloc cache, resulting in a slab cross-cache free:

kmem_cache_free(skbuff_small_head): Wrong slab cache. Expected skbuff_small_head but got kmalloc-1k

Fix this by always calling kfree(head) in skb_kfree_head(). This keeps the free path generic and avoids allocator-specific misclassification for KFENCE objects.

CVSS v3
5.5
EG Score
5.5(medium)
EG Risk
29(Track)
EG Risk 29/100SSVC: Track

EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score: it fuses intrinsic severity with real-world exploitation and automatability so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner. Distinct from the 0–10 EG Score (severity).

How it’s computed
Severity55% × 45%
Exploitation0% × 40%
Automatability30% × 15%
Action: Routine — remediate on your standard cadence.
EPSS PROB
0%
EPSS %ILE
18%
KEV
Not listed

Published

April 20, 2026

Last Modified

May 20, 2026

Advisory Details (5)

Auto-updated Aug 2, 2026
No patch confirmed yet.
generic

net: skb: fix cross-cache free of KFENCE-allocated skb head - kernel/git/stable/linux.git - Linux kernel stable tree

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/60313768a8edc7094435975587c00c2d7b834083
generic

net: skb: fix cross-cache free of KFENCE-allocated skb head - kernel/git/stable/linux.git - Linux kernel stable tree

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/474e00b935db250cac320d10c1d3cf4e44b46721
generic

net: skb: fix cross-cache free of KFENCE-allocated skb head - kernel/git/stable/linux.git - Linux kernel stable tree

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2d64618ea846d8d033477311f805ca487d6a6696
generic

net: skb: fix cross-cache free of KFENCE-allocated skb head - kernel/git/stable/linux.git - Linux kernel stable tree

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/128b03ccb2582a643983a48a37fda58df80edbde
generic

net: skb: fix cross-cache free of KFENCE-allocated skb head - kernel/git/stable/linux.git - Linux kernel stable tree

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0f42e3f4fe2a58394e37241d02d9ca6ab7b7d516

Vendor Advisories for CVE-2026-31429(2)

These vendors published their own advisory mentioning this CVE — often with vendor-specific remediation steps + affected product lists not in NVD.

Patch Availability(1)

Vendor / EcosystemFixed in / PatchReleasedSource
linuxKernel @ 6.6.136osv

Patches are aggregated from vendor advisories (Red Hat, Microsoft, Cisco, GitHub) and package ecosystems (OSV, GHSA). Multiple rows for the same upstream release have been deduplicated.

Affected Packages

(2 across 2 ecosystems)
Debian:13(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
linux6.12.38-1 ... 6.12.85-1~bpo12+1 (17 versions)6.12.85-1
Debian:14(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
linux6.12.100-1 ... 6.19~rc8-1~exp1 (127 versions)6.19.13-1

Weakness Classification(1)

MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.

All Vendor Advisories

(13)

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 7× in last 7d / 30× in last 30d)

Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.

Showing the most recent 100 of 214 total refreshes for this CVE.

  1. 2026-09-20 20:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-09-20 20:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  3. 2026-09-18 19:28 UTCEPSS rescore
  4. 2026-09-18 19:27 UTCEPSS rescore
  5. 2026-09-17 19:30 UTCEPSS rescore
  6. 2026-09-16 14:08 UTCEPSS rescore
  7. 2026-09-16 05:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  8. 2026-09-13 16:47 UTCEPSS rescore
  9. 2026-09-12 15:01 UTCEPSS rescore
  10. 2026-09-11 14:52 UTCEPSS rescore
  11. 2026-09-10 09:34 UTCEPSS rescore
  12. 2026-09-08 22:00 UTCEPSS rescore
  13. 2026-09-07 16:01 UTCEPSS rescore
  14. 2026-09-06 13:47 UTCEPSS rescore
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  16. 2026-09-04 05:06 UTCEPSS rescore
  17. 2026-09-02 14:11 UTCEPSS rescore
  18. 2026-09-02 03:40 UTCOSV refresh
  19. 2026-09-01 13:53 UTCEPSS rescore
  20. 2026-09-01 04:39 UTCEPSS rescore
  21. 2026-09-01 04:39 UTCEPSS rescore
  22. 2026-08-30 19:17 UTCEPSS rescore
  23. 2026-08-30 01:22 UTCEPSS rescore
  24. 2026-08-28 21:41 UTCEPSS rescore
  25. 2026-08-27 14:25 UTCEPSS rescore
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  1. 2026-08-26 14:46 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-08-25 13:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  3. 2026-08-24 14:17 UTCEPSS rescore
  4. 2026-08-23 00:19 UTCEPSS rescore
  5. 2026-08-21 23:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  6. 2026-08-20 22:55 UTCEPSS rescore
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  8. 2026-08-19 17:03 UTCEPSS rescore
  9. 2026-08-18 13:48 UTCEPSS rescore
  10. 2026-08-17 13:47 UTCEPSS rescore
  11. 2026-08-16 14:56 UTCEPSS rescore
  12. 2026-08-16 06:25 UTCEG score recompute
  13. 2026-08-16 06:25 UTCVendor advisory
  14. 2026-08-16 06:25 UTCGHSA enrichment
  15. 2026-08-16 02:14 UTCEPSS rescore
  16. 2026-08-15 01:30 UTCEPSS rescore
  17. 2026-08-14 04:34 UTCEG score recompute
  18. 2026-08-14 04:34 UTCVendor advisory
  19. 2026-08-14 04:34 UTCGHSA enrichment
  20. 2026-08-13 22:00 UTCEPSS rescore
  21. 2026-08-12 18:44 UTCEG score recompute
  22. 2026-08-12 18:44 UTCVendor advisory
  23. 2026-08-12 18:44 UTCGHSA enrichment
  24. 2026-08-12 13:50 UTCEPSS rescore
  25. 2026-08-11 05:42 UTCEG score recompute
  26. 2026-08-11 05:42 UTCVendor advisory
  27. 2026-08-11 05:42 UTCGHSA enrichment
  28. 2026-08-11 00:00 UTCEPSS rescore
  29. 2026-08-10 04:45 UTCEG score recompute
  30. 2026-08-10 04:45 UTCVendor advisory
  31. 2026-08-10 04:45 UTCGHSA enrichment
  32. 2026-08-09 13:46 UTCEPSS rescore
  33. 2026-08-09 03:49 UTCEG score recompute
  34. 2026-08-09 03:49 UTCVendor advisory
  35. 2026-08-09 03:49 UTCGHSA enrichment
  36. 2026-08-08 16:37 UTCEPSS rescore
  37. 2026-08-07 13:12 UTCEG score recompute
  38. 2026-08-07 13:12 UTCVendor advisory
  39. 2026-08-07 13:11 UTCGHSA enrichment
  40. 2026-08-06 13:46 UTCEPSS rescore
  41. 2026-08-05 23:15 UTCEG score recompute
  42. 2026-08-05 23:15 UTCVendor advisory
  43. 2026-08-05 23:15 UTCGHSA enrichment
  44. 2026-08-05 19:17 UTCEPSS rescore
  45. 2026-08-04 15:10 UTCEPSS rescore
  46. 2026-08-04 10:38 UTCEPSS rescore
  47. 2026-08-03 21:27 UTCEG score recompute
  48. 2026-08-03 21:27 UTCVendor advisory
  49. 2026-08-03 21:27 UTCGHSA enrichment
  50. 2026-08-03 10:36 UTCEPSS rescore
  51. 2026-08-02 12:56 UTCEG score recompute
  52. 2026-08-02 12:56 UTCVendor advisory
  53. 2026-08-02 12:56 UTCGHSA enrichment
  54. 2026-08-02 02:27 UTCEPSS rescore
  55. 2026-08-01 04:16 UTCEPSS rescore
  56. 2026-07-30 16:27 UTCEPSS rescore
  57. 2026-07-30 01:30 UTCEPSS rescore
  58. 2026-07-28 15:36 UTCEPSS rescore
  59. 2026-07-26 14:54 UTCEPSS rescore
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  61. 2026-07-25 14:18 UTCEPSS rescore
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  64. 2026-07-23 14:18 UTCEPSS rescore
  65. 2026-07-23 14:18 UTCEPSS rescore
  66. 2026-07-23 03:08 UTCEG score recompute
  67. 2026-07-22 14:08 UTCEPSS rescore
  68. 2026-07-22 14:08 UTCEPSS rescore
  69. 2026-07-21 15:24 UTCEPSS rescore
  70. 2026-07-21 15:24 UTCEPSS rescore
  71. 2026-07-20 17:08 UTCEPSS rescore
  72. 2026-07-20 17:08 UTCEPSS rescore
  73. 2026-07-20 07:02 UTCOSV refresh
  74. 2026-07-19 14:31 UTCEPSS rescore
  75. 2026-07-19 14:31 UTCEPSS rescore

Frequently asked(5)

What is CVE-2026-31429?
CVE-2026-31429 is a medium vulnerability published on April 20, 2026. In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: skb: fix cross-cache free of KFENCE-allocated skb head SKBSMALLHEADCACHESIZE is intentionally set to a non-power-of-2 value (e.g. 704 on x86_64) to avoid collisions with generic kmalloc bucket sizes. This ensures that…
When was CVE-2026-31429 disclosed?
CVE-2026-31429 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on April 20, 2026, with the most recent update on May 20, 2026. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2026-31429 actively exploited?
CVE-2026-31429 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. FIRST EPSS estimates a 0% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, which ranks it in the top 82.0% of all scored CVEs.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2026-31429?
CVE-2026-31429 has a CVSS v3 base score of 5.5 (NVD).
How do I remediate CVE-2026-31429?
Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2026-31429, EchelonGraph cross-links them in the Vendor Advisories panel below — those typically contain the canonical remediation steps, fixed version numbers, and any vendor-specific mitigations.

Dependency Blast Radius

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