CVE-2026-63978

CRITICALPre-NVD 9.89.8
EchelonGraph scoreHIGH confidence

Score 9.8 from GitHub Security Advisory (severity: CRITICAL) published 2026-07-19. a secondary CVSS source baseline 9.8; sources differ by 0.0.

Triggered by: GitHub Security Advisory CVSS
Sources: epss, ghsa, secondary
Trending — 5 sources updated this week
9.8EG
EchelonGraph verdictPlan a fixSerious severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet.
  • High severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS PROB: 1%CVSS: 9.8Exploit: None knownExposed: 0

A fix is available — apply it.

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

net/handshake: Drain pending requests at net namespace exit

The arguments to list_splice_init() in handshake_net_exit() are reversed. The call moves the local empty "requests" list onto hn->hn_requests, leaving the local list empty, so the subsequent drain loop runs zero iterations. Pending handshake requests that had not yet been accepted are not torn down when the net namespace is destroyed; each one keeps a reference on a socket file and on the handshake_req allocation.

Pass the source and destination in the documented order (list_splice_init(list, head) moves list onto head) so the pending list is transferred to the local scratch list and drained through handshake_complete().

Fixing the splice direction exposes a list-corruption race. After the splice each req->hr_list still has non-empty link pointers, threading the stack-local scratch list rather than hn_requests. A concurrent handshake_req_cancel() -- for example, from sunrpc's TLS timeout on a kernel socket whose netns reference was not taken -- finds the request through the rhashtable, calls remove_pending(), and sees !list_empty(&req->hr_list). __remove_pending_locked() then list_del_init()s an entry off the scratch list while the drain iterates, corrupting it. The same call arriving after the drain loop has run list_del() on an entry hits LIST_POISON instead.

Have remove_pending() check HANDSHAKE_F_NET_DRAINING under hn_lock and report not-found when drain is in progress. The drain has already taken ownership; handshake_complete()'s existing test_and_set on HANDSHAKE_F_REQ_COMPLETED still arbitrates between drain and cancel for who calls the consumer's hp_done. Use list_del_init() rather than list_del() in the drain so req->hr_list does not carry LIST_POISON after drain releases the entry.

The DRAINING guard in remove_pending() makes cancel return false, but cancel still falls through to test_and_set_bit on HANDSHAKE_F_REQ_COMPLETED and drops the request's hr_file reference. Without another pin, if that is the last reference, sk_destruct frees the request while it is still linked on the drain loop's local list. Pin each request's hr_file under hn_lock before releasing the list, and drop that drain pin after the loop finishes with the request.

CVSS v3
9.8
EG Score
9.8(high)
EG Risk
49(Track)
EG Risk 49/100SSVC: 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
Severity98% × 45%
Exploitation1% × 40%
Automatability30% × 15%
Action: Routine — remediate on your standard cadence.
EPSS PROB
1%
EPSS %ILE
45%
KEV
Not listed

Published

July 19, 2026

Last Modified

July 20, 2026

Advisory Details (3)

Auto-updated Jul 25, 2026
No patch confirmed yet.
generic

net/handshake: Drain pending requests at net namespace exit - kernel/git/stable/linux.git - Linux kernel stable tree

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ea5fe6a73ca57e5150b8a38b341aef2636eb72f0
generic

net/handshake: Drain pending requests at net namespace exit - kernel/git/stable/linux.git - Linux kernel stable tree

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9ec20c9a5a04f2c3f1cf65d21f886d7aaa6189cd
generic

net/handshake: Drain pending requests at net namespace exit - kernel/git/stable/linux.git - Linux kernel stable tree

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8c35539db0ab0bfa1ea44efab00b053261a69469

Vendor Advisories for CVE-2026-63978(2)

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

Patch Availability(2)

Vendor / EcosystemFixed in / PatchReleasedSource
ubuntulinux-tools-oracle-7.0 (7.0.0-1008.8) @ resolute2026-07-26ubuntu
ubuntulinux-tools-azure-fde-7.0 (7.0.0-1009.9) @ resolute2026-07-26ubuntu

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.

All Vendor Advisories

(2)

Every vendor that published an advisory referencing this CVE — pulled from our cve_vendor_advisories aggregation. Click any row for the vendor's original advisory page.

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 31× in last 7d / 34× 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.

  1. 2026-07-27 10:40 UTCGHSA enrichment
  2. 2026-07-27 06:45 UTCGHSA enrichment
  3. 2026-07-27 02:46 UTCGHSA enrichment
  4. 2026-07-26 22:50 UTCVendor advisory
  5. 2026-07-26 22:50 UTCGHSA enrichment
  6. 2026-07-26 18:52 UTCEG score recompute
  7. 2026-07-26 18:52 UTCGHSA enrichment
  8. 2026-07-26 14:54 UTCEPSS rescore
  9. 2026-07-26 14:54 UTCEPSS rescore
  10. 2026-07-26 14:54 UTCVendor advisory
  11. 2026-07-26 14:54 UTCGHSA enrichment
  12. 2026-07-26 10:58 UTCEG score recompute
  13. 2026-07-26 10:58 UTCVendor advisory
  14. 2026-07-26 10:58 UTCGHSA enrichment
  15. 2026-07-25 14:18 UTCEPSS rescore
  16. 2026-07-25 14:18 UTCEPSS rescore
  17. 2026-07-24 14:18 UTCEPSS rescore
  18. 2026-07-24 14:18 UTCEPSS rescore
  19. 2026-07-23 14:18 UTCEPSS rescore
  20. 2026-07-23 14:18 UTCEPSS rescore
  21. 2026-07-23 03:22 UTCEG score recompute
  22. 2026-07-22 14:08 UTCEPSS rescore
  23. 2026-07-22 14:08 UTCEPSS rescore
  24. 2026-07-21 15:25 UTCEPSS rescore
  25. 2026-07-21 15:25 UTCEPSS rescore
Show 9 more
  1. 2026-07-20 17:30 UTCEG score recompute
  2. 2026-07-20 17:30 UTCGHSA enrichment
  3. 2026-07-20 17:08 UTCEPSS rescore
  4. 2026-07-20 14:38 UTCEG score recompute 9.80
  5. 2026-07-20 14:38 UTCGHSA enrichment
  6. 2026-07-20 14:32 UTCMITRE cvelistV5CVSS v3 → 9.8 · severity → CRITICAL
  7. 2026-07-19 17:49 UTCNVD update
  8. 2026-07-19 15:21 UTCEG score recompute
  9. 2026-07-19 15:19 UTCMITRE cvelistV5first tracked

Frequently asked(5)

What is CVE-2026-63978?
CVE-2026-63978 is a critical vulnerability published on July 19, 2026. In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net/handshake: Drain pending requests at net namespace exit The arguments to listspliceinit() in handshakenetexit() are reversed. The call moves the local empty "requests" list onto hn->hn_requests, leaving the local list empty, so…
When was CVE-2026-63978 disclosed?
CVE-2026-63978 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on July 19, 2026, with the most recent update on July 20, 2026. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2026-63978 actively exploited?
CVE-2026-63978 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. FIRST EPSS estimates a 1% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, which ranks it in the top 54.9% of all scored CVEs.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2026-63978?
CVE-2026-63978 has a CVSS v3 base score of 9.8 (NVD).
How do I remediate CVE-2026-63978?
Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2026-63978, 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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