Description
"Dirty Frag" (also referred to as "Copy Fail 2") is a set of deterministic Linux kernel local privilege escalation vulnerabilities stemming from unsafe in-place cryptographic processing of shared skb fragments that reference file-backed page-cache pages in the xfrm-ESP (IPsec ESP) and RxRPC paths, belonging to the same broader bug class as Dirty Pipe and Copy Fail. A low-privileged local attacker can abuse zero-copy/splice mechanisms to manipulate the kernel page cache, overwrite privileged files such as /usr/bin/su or /etc/passwd, and gain root access.
The collection comprises two distinct issues with assigned CVEs: the IPsec ESP flaw (involving the esp4 and esp6 modules, commonly used for VPNs and site-to-site tunnels) tracked as CVE-2026-43284, and the RxRPC flaw (which underpins the AFS distributed filesystem) tracked as CVE-2026-43500, both rated as "Important". Exploitation conditions differ—the ESP variant typically requires unprivileged user/network namespace creation, while the RxRPC variant depends on the rxrpc module being loaded or enabled (e.g., on Ubuntu), together providing broad exploitability across major Linux distributions. Until upstream patches are fully merged and deployed, mitigation involves disabling the vulnerable kernel modules (esp4, esp6, rxrpc) and applying appropriate kernel configuration to further reduce the attack surface.
CVE-2026-46300: "Fragnesia" is a variant of Dirty Frag vulnerability in the ESP/XFRM leading to Local Privilege Escalation (LPE) vulnerability in the Linux.
Affected Products
CentOS/RHEL 8,9,10
Debian
Mitigation
Overall Guidance
Any hardening measures that limit local access help reduce the risk of exploitation. Examples include disabling SSH, ensuring SELinux is in enforcing mode, using the default Security Context Constraints (SCC), running workloads as non-root, and restricting oc debug access to trusted cluster administrators. This list is not exhaustive, and the applicability of each measure should be evaluated in the context of your operational requirements and security policies. Additionally, disabling any single access method does not eliminate all other means by which a user could gain local access.
Determining if IPsec is in use
lsmod | grep -E 'esp4|esp6'
If the modules are not loaded, IPsec is not in active use and the blocklist is safe to apply. If the modules are loaded and IPsec is actively configured, the blocklist will prevent IPsec from functioning after the next reboot. In that case, consider the "No Impact to IPsec Method" below. Note that even if the modules are loaded, rmmod will refuse to unload them if they are in active use. No running IPsec connections will be disrupted by the command itself.
Blocklist Method
Warning: Blocklisting esp4/esp6 will break IPsec functionality. Blocklisting rxrpc will break AFS client connectivity. Evaluate the impact on your environment before applying.
printf 'install esp4 /bin/false\ninstall esp6 /bin/false\ninstall rxrpc /bin/false\n' > /etc/modprobe.d/dirtyfrag.conf
rmmod esp4 esp6 rxrpc 2>/dev/null; true
No Impact to IPsec Method
Alternatively, for environments where IPsec must remain functional, the ESP variant (CVE-2026-43284) can be blocked by disabling unprivileged user namespaces:
Warning: This only blocks the ESP variant. On RHEL 9 and 10, the rxrpc variant (CVE-2026-43500) remains exploitable unless rxrpc is also blocklisted as shown above. Disabling unprivileged user namespaces may also affect rootless containers, sandboxed browsers, and Flatpak.
echo "user.max_user_namespaces=0" > /etc/sysctl.d/dirtyfrag.conf
sysctl --system
Reverse Mitigation
remove /etc/modprobe.d/dirtyfrag.conf
References
https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/cve-2026-43284
https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2026-43284
https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2026-46300