Use of Uninitialized Variable in Linux kernel - CVE-2026-72020

Vulnerability identifier: #VU143582

CSH Severity: Medium

CVSS v4: 5.3 [CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:L/VI:L/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N]

CVE-ID: CVE-2026-72020

CWE-ID: CWE-457

Exploitation vector: Remote access

Exploit availability: No public exploit available

The vulnerability allows a remote user to disclose sensitive information and corrupt forwarded TCP traffic.

The vulnerability exists due to use of uninitialized memory in ip_vs_conn_new and TCP sequence handling in IPVS when processing a malformed sync message that omits sequence data. A remote user can send a specially crafted sync message to disclose sensitive information and corrupt forwarded TCP traffic.

The issue affects connections learned from a sync message when sequence flags are preserved without valid sequence data, causing stale slab bytes to be used in TCP sequence and acknowledgment number rewriting by an IPVS application helper.

Linux kernel
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15
SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time 15
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15
SUSE Linux Enterprise Workstation Extension 15
Basesystem Module
Development Tools Module
Legacy Module
Public Cloud Module
SUSE Linux Enterprise Live Patching
kernel-livepatch-SLE15-SP7_Update_21-debugsource
kernel-livepatch-6_4_0-150700_53_81-default-debuginfo
kernel-livepatch-6_4_0-150700_53_81-default
kernel-default-livepatch
kernel-64kb-devel-debuginfo
kernel-64kb-debugsource
kernel-docs
kernel-syms
kernel-obs-build
kernel-obs-build-debugsource
kernel-source
reiserfs-kmp-default
reiserfs-kmp-default-debuginfo
kernel-64kb-devel
kernel-default-livepatch-devel
kernel-azure
kernel-azure-devel
kernel-azure-debugsource
kernel-azure-debuginfo
kernel-azure-devel-debuginfo
kernel-default-extra-debuginfo
kernel-default-extra
kernel-64kb-debuginfo
cluster-md-kmp-default
kernel-default-debuginfo
ocfs2-kmp-default-debuginfo
dlm-kmp-default-debuginfo
ocfs2-kmp-default
gfs2-kmp-default-debuginfo
dlm-kmp-default
cluster-md-kmp-default-debuginfo
kernel-default-debugsource
kernel-default
kernel-default-devel-debuginfo
kernel-default-devel
kernel-macros
kernel-devel
kernel-zfcpdump
kernel-zfcpdump-debugsource
kernel-zfcpdump-debuginfo
kernel-64kb
gfs2-kmp-default
kernel-default-base

Install security update from vendor's repository.

Linux kernel - update to 7.0 rc3
kernel-livepatch-SLE15-SP7_Update_21-debugsource - update to 1-150700.15.3.1
kernel-livepatch-6_4_0-150700_53_81-default-debuginfo - update to 1-150700.15.3.1
kernel-livepatch-6_4_0-150700_53_81-default - update to 1-150700.15.3.1
kernel-default-livepatch - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
kernel-64kb-devel-debuginfo - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
kernel-64kb-debugsource - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
kernel-docs - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
kernel-syms - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
kernel-obs-build - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
kernel-obs-build-debugsource - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
kernel-source - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
reiserfs-kmp-default - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
reiserfs-kmp-default-debuginfo - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
kernel-64kb-devel - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
kernel-default-livepatch-devel - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
kernel-azure - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
kernel-azure-devel - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
kernel-azure-debugsource - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
kernel-azure-debuginfo - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
kernel-azure-devel-debuginfo - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
kernel-default-extra-debuginfo - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
kernel-default-extra - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
kernel-64kb-debuginfo - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
cluster-md-kmp-default - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
kernel-default-debuginfo - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
ocfs2-kmp-default-debuginfo - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
dlm-kmp-default-debuginfo - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
ocfs2-kmp-default - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
gfs2-kmp-default-debuginfo - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
dlm-kmp-default - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
cluster-md-kmp-default-debuginfo - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
kernel-default-debugsource - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
kernel-default - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
kernel-default-devel-debuginfo - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
kernel-default-devel - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
kernel-macros - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
kernel-devel - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
kernel-zfcpdump - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
kernel-zfcpdump-debugsource - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
kernel-zfcpdump-debuginfo - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
kernel-64kb - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
gfs2-kmp-default - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
kernel-default-base - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1.150700.17.45.1

• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2975324d164c552b028632f107b567302863b7f6
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/32c299e28b8eea6cbbd23b97dc61401e9ef9c445
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/3bf9a260188b2a5449cbddc032a749ab433fe328
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6335ab62d5fc9ed875279238233fba3462c168f5
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6378c5cb360eb1750f88839d7c3613ea92ac1816
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/83fb4c2c5344f02eac929f66de3c9d1adfcde04c
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9e36602cbec552286f7e691cfd366525c565ee74
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d0eed7177e822cab83141e5c44b2aa345c7fd379

• Use of Uninitialized Variable in Linux kernel netfilter ipvs
• SUSE update for the Linux Kernel