CVE-2026-68377: Software Security Vulnerability Vulnerability

HIGH
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-5xw4-524v-v442
CVSS 7.8
CWE-416
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2026-68377 is a HIGH (CVSS 7.8) security vulnerability vulnerability (CWE-416: Use After Free) affecting Software libraries in the Maven ecosystem. The weakness occurs when the product reuses or references memory after it has been freed. at some point afterward, the memory may be allocated again and saved in another pointer, while the original pointer references a location somewhere within the new allocation. any operations using the original pointer are no longer valid because the memory "belongs" to the code that operates on the new pointer.. Remediation is available in the latest vendor maintenance releases.

CVE-2026-68377 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2026-68377
GHSA Identifier GHSA-5xw4-524v-v442
Severity HIGH
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 7.8
CWE Classification CWE-416: Use After Free
Affected Product Software
Package Ecosystem Maven
Published Date
Last Updated

Security Impact

CVSS: 7.8

The security impact metrics below are parsed directly from the CVSS v3.1 vector string (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H).

Attack Vector Local (AV:L)
Attack Complexity Low (AC:L)
Privileges Required Low (PR:L)
User Interaction None (UI:N)
Scope Unchanged (S:U)
Confidentiality High (C:H)
Integrity High (I:H)
Availability High (A:H)

How to Fix CVE-2026-68377

To remediate this vulnerability, upgrade all affected Software dependencies to a patched release. Both direct and transitive dependencies should be checked, as frameworks or security libraries may pull in vulnerable versions transitively.

Verify Direct and Transitive Dependencies

Run the following command in your project directory to verify that all resolved dependencies use the patched release:

mvn dependency:tree

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your Java application is affected by CVE-2026-68377, inspect your build dependencies using the Maven Dependency Plugin:

mvn dependency:tree

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Software in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than the patched release), your application is affected.

Note: The mvn dependency:tree command inspects the resolved dependency graph declared in your project's POM files; it does not perform automated security scanning or inspect runtime dynamic classpaths. Always verify runtime container classpaths and shaded JARs.

Technical Details

Vulnerability Mechanism & Technical Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-416: Use After Free, where the product reuses or references memory after it has been freed. at some point afterward, the memory may be allocated again and saved in another pointer, while the original pointer references a location somewhere within the new allocation. any operations using the original pointer are no longer valid because the memory "belongs" to the code that operates on the new pointer. In Software, software state validation or input boundaries are circumvented during processing. Review the official source advisory statement below for specific affected components, classes, and reproduction details.

Source Advisory Statement

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net/sched: act_tunnel_key: Defer dst_release to RCU callback Fix a race-condition use-after-free in tunnel_key_release_params(). The function releases the metadata_dst of the old params synchronously via dst_release() while deferring the params struct free with kfree_rcu(). A concurrent tunnel_key_act() reader on the datapath may still hold the old params pointer (under rcu_read_lock_bh) and proceed to call dst_clone(&params->tcft_enc_metadata->dst) after the writer's dst_release has already pushed the dst's rcuref to RCUREF_DEAD. zdi-disclosures@trendmicro.com produced a poc which i (and Victor) verified that KASAN reports: ================================================================== BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in instrument_atomic_read_write include/linux/instrumented.h:112 BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in atomic_sub_return_release include/linux/atomic/atomic-instrumented.h:326 BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in __rcuref_put include/linux/rcuref.h:109 BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in rcuref_put include/linux/rcuref.h:173 BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in dst_release+0x5b/0x370 net/core/dst.c:168 Write of size 4 at addr ffff88806158de40 by task poc/9388 CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 9388 Comm: poc Tainted: G W 7.1.0-rc7 #7 PREEMPT(lazy) Tainted: [W]=WARN Hardware name: QEMU Ubuntu 25.10 PC v2 (i440FX + PIIX, + 10.1 machine, 1996), BIOS 1.16.3-debian-1.16.3-2 04/01/2014 Call Trace: <TASK> __dump_stack lib/dump_stack.c:94 dump_stack_lvl+0x100/0x190 lib/dump_stack.c:120 print_address_description mm/kasan/report.c:378 print_report+0x139/0x4ad mm/kasan/report.c:482 kasan_report+0xe4/0x1d0 mm/kasan/report.c:595 check_region_inline mm/kasan/generic.c:186 kasan_check_range+0x125/0x200 mm/kasan/generic.c:200 instrument_atomic_read_write include/linux/instrumented.h:112 atomic_sub_return_release include/linux/atomic/atomic-instrumented.h:326 __rcuref_put include/linux/rcuref.h:109 rcuref_put include/linux/rcuref.h:173 dst_release+0x5b/0x370 net/core/dst.c:168 refdst_drop include/net/dst.h:272 skb_dst_drop include/net/dst.h:284 skb_release_head_state+0x293/0x400 net/core/skbuff.c:1163 skb_release_all net/core/skbuff.c:1187 [..] Allocated by task 9391: kasan_save_stack+0x30/0x50 mm/kasan/common.c:57 kasan_save_track+0x14/0x30 mm/kasan/common.c:78 poison_kmalloc_redzone mm/kasan/common.c:398 __kasan_kmalloc+0x9a/0xb0 mm/kasan/common.c:415 kasan_kmalloc include/linux/kasan.h:263 __do_kmalloc_node mm/slub.c:5296 __kmalloc_noprof+0x2f1/0x830 mm/slub.c:5308 kmalloc_noprof include/linux/slab.h:954 kzalloc_noprof include/linux/slab.h:1188 offload_action_alloc+0x2f/0x130 net/core/flow_offload.c:35 tcf_action_offload_add_ex+0x1ba/0x880 net/sched/act_api.c:258 tcf_action_offload_add net/sched/act_api.c:293 tcf_action_init+0x66e/0xa20 net/sched/act_api.c:1547 tcf_action_add+0xf6/0x5d0 net/sched/act_api.c:2101 [..] Freed by task 9391: kasan_save_stack+0x30/0x50 mm/kasan/common.c:57 kasan_save_track+0x14/0x30 mm/kasan/common.c:78 kasan_save_free_info+0x3b/0x70 mm/kasan/generic.c:584 poison_slab_object mm/kasan/common.c:253 __kasan_slab_free+0x6b/0x90 mm/kasan/common.c:285 kasan_slab_free include/linux/kasan.h:235 slab_free_hook mm/slub.c:2689 slab_free mm/slub.c:6251 kfree+0x21f/0x6b0 mm/slub.c:6566 tcf_action_offload_add_ex+0x4ad/0x880 net/sched/act_api.c:284 tcf_action_offload_add net/sched/act_api.c:293 tcf_action_init+0x66e/0xa20 net/sched/act_api.c:1547 tcf_action_add+0xf6/0x5d0 net/sched/act_api.c:2101 The buggy address belongs to the object at ffff88806158de00 which belongs to the cache kmalloc-256 of size 256 The buggy address is located 64 bytes inside of freed 256-byte region [ffff88806158de00, ffff88806158df00) The buggy address belongs to the physical page: page: refcount:0 mapcount:0 mapping:0000000000000000 index:0xffff88806158d600 pfn:0x6158c head: order:1 mapcount:0 entire_map ---truncated---

References

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2026-68377?
CVE-2026-68377 is a security vulnerability in Software classified as a security vulnerability vulnerability under CWE-416: Use After Free.
Which Software versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to current release patches.
What version fixes CVE-2026-68377?
Upgrading to current release patches (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2026-68377?
CVE-2026-68377 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.8 (HIGH) with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2026-68377?
CVE-2026-68377 is classified under CWE-416: Use After Free (The product reuses or references memory after it has been freed. At some point afterward, the memory may be allocated again and saved in another pointer, while the original pointer references a location somewhere within the new allocation. Any operations using the original pointer are no longer valid because the memory "belongs" to the code that operates on the new pointer.).
How can I check Maven dependencies for CVE-2026-68377?
Run the dependency tree command: 'mvn dependency:tree'. This command lists direct and transitive dependencies in your build configuration so you can verify if a vulnerable version is resolved.
Machine-readable OSV JSON OSV v1.5 Schema
Normalized schema output
{
  "schema_version" : "1.4.0",
  "id" : "GHSA-5xw4-524v-v442",
  "modified" : "2026-08-19T18:32:17Z",
  "published" : "2026-08-10T15:33:48Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2026-68377" ],
  "details" : "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nnet/sched: act_tunnel_key: Defer dst_release to RCU callback\n\nFix a race-condition use-after-free in tunnel_key_release_params().\n\nThe function releases the metadata_dst of the old params synchronously\nvia dst_release() while deferring the params struct free with\nkfree_rcu(). A concurrent tunnel_key_act() reader on the datapath may\nstill hold the old params pointer (under rcu_read_lock_bh) and proceed\nto call dst_clone(&params->tcft_enc_metadata->dst) after the writer's\ndst_release has already pushed the dst's rcuref to RCUREF_DEAD.\n\nzdi-disclosures@trendmicro.com produced a poc which i (and Victor) verified\nthat KASAN reports:\n\n==================================================================\nBUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in instrument_atomic_read_write include/linux/instrumented.h:112\nBUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in atomic_sub_return_release include/linux/atomic/atomic-instrumented.h:326\nBUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in __rcuref_put include/linux/rcuref.h:109\nBUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in rcuref_put include/linux/rcuref.h:173\nBUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in dst_release+0x5b/0x370 net/core/dst.c:168\nWrite of size 4 at addr ffff88806158de40 by task poc/9388\n\nCPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 9388 Comm: poc Tainted: G        W           7.1.0-rc7 #7 PREEMPT(lazy)\nTainted: [W]=WARN\nHardware name: QEMU Ubuntu 25.10 PC v2 (i440FX + PIIX, + 10.1 machine, 1996), BIOS 1.16.3-debian-1.16.3-2 04/01/2014\nCall Trace:\n <TASK>\n __dump_stack lib/dump_stack.c:94\n dump_stack_lvl+0x100/0x190 lib/dump_stack.c:120\n print_address_description mm/kasan/report.c:378\n print_report+0x139/0x4ad mm/kasan/report.c:482\n kasan_report+0xe4/0x1d0 mm/kasan/report.c:595\n check_region_inline mm/kasan/generic.c:186\n kasan_check_range+0x125/0x200 mm/kasan/generic.c:200\n instrument_atomic_read_write include/linux/instrumented.h:112\n atomic_sub_return_release include/linux/atomic/atomic-instrumented.h:326\n __rcuref_put include/linux/rcuref.h:109\n rcuref_put include/linux/rcuref.h:173\n dst_release+0x5b/0x370 net/core/dst.c:168\n refdst_drop include/net/dst.h:272\n skb_dst_drop include/net/dst.h:284\n skb_release_head_state+0x293/0x400 net/core/skbuff.c:1163\n skb_release_all net/core/skbuff.c:1187\n[..]\nAllocated by task 9391:\n kasan_save_stack+0x30/0x50 mm/kasan/common.c:57\n kasan_save_track+0x14/0x30 mm/kasan/common.c:78\n poison_kmalloc_redzone mm/kasan/common.c:398\n __kasan_kmalloc+0x9a/0xb0 mm/kasan/common.c:415\n kasan_kmalloc include/linux/kasan.h:263\n __do_kmalloc_node mm/slub.c:5296\n __kmalloc_noprof+0x2f1/0x830 mm/slub.c:5308\n kmalloc_noprof include/linux/slab.h:954\n kzalloc_noprof include/linux/slab.h:1188\n offload_action_alloc+0x2f/0x130 net/core/flow_offload.c:35\n tcf_action_offload_add_ex+0x1ba/0x880 net/sched/act_api.c:258\n tcf_action_offload_add net/sched/act_api.c:293\n tcf_action_init+0x66e/0xa20 net/sched/act_api.c:1547\n tcf_action_add+0xf6/0x5d0 net/sched/act_api.c:2101\n[..]\nFreed by task 9391:\n kasan_save_stack+0x30/0x50 mm/kasan/common.c:57\n kasan_save_track+0x14/0x30 mm/kasan/common.c:78\n kasan_save_free_info+0x3b/0x70 mm/kasan/generic.c:584\n poison_slab_object mm/kasan/common.c:253\n __kasan_slab_free+0x6b/0x90 mm/kasan/common.c:285\n kasan_slab_free include/linux/kasan.h:235\n slab_free_hook mm/slub.c:2689\n slab_free mm/slub.c:6251\n kfree+0x21f/0x6b0 mm/slub.c:6566\n tcf_action_offload_add_ex+0x4ad/0x880 net/sched/act_api.c:284\n tcf_action_offload_add net/sched/act_api.c:293\n tcf_action_init+0x66e/0xa20 net/sched/act_api.c:1547\n tcf_action_add+0xf6/0x5d0 net/sched/act_api.c:2101\n\nThe buggy address belongs to the object at ffff88806158de00\n which belongs to the cache kmalloc-256 of size 256\nThe buggy address is located 64 bytes inside of\n freed 256-byte region [ffff88806158de00, ffff88806158df00)\n\nThe buggy address belongs to the physical page:\npage: refcount:0 mapcount:0 mapping:0000000000000000 index:0xffff88806158d600 pfn:0x6158c\nhead: order:1 mapcount:0 entire_map\n---truncated---",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-68377"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2200a00ff247f70f5dcdb4e6f14b0d48ddac5467"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2791a501da508b704a617b4dba29db54a65bc9f7"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/389d03992dabb80488228e8119b9dd6d0f58e1a6"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/531dbb5bb98e52ad26be7e90f9f8bec707c5bd0e"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/676ad6aa7cec89a08d2a5ce3cd5959e313f29733"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b5931f020b681fdcb9378262d89b61cb3c7ebbf8"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f1f5c8a3955f8fda3f84ed883ac8daa1847e724c"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/fed1b1ddab41a0e7a462ac690a0c8af6ff793624"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-416" ],
    "severity" : "HIGH",
    "github_reviewed" : false,
    "github_reviewed_at" : null,
    "nvd_published_at" : "2026-08-10T13:20:30Z"
  }
}