FreeSenseFreeSenseSecurity
freesense.org
← Fixed vulnerabilities
Fixed

Arbitrary file overwrite via the KTLS receive path

FreeBSD-SA-26:26.ktls · CVE-2026-45257

Our decision for FreeSense

FreeBSD corrected this on 2026-06-09, before the FreeBSD source pin of every FreeSense version.

  • Advisory: corrected 2026-06-09
  • FreeSense 1.0 pin: e004ff15f87e (2026-08-03)
  • FreeSense 1.1 pin: a52c50b4b7c2 (2026-10-04)
  • FreeSense 1.2 pin: a52c50b4b7c2 (2026-10-04)
Decided by rules, not yet reviewed. The status comes from the advisory's correction date and the build configuration. A maintainer has not looked at whether FreeSense is exposed in practice. How we triage

By FreeSense version

VersionStatusFreeBSD pin
FreeSense 1.01.0.7 · frozen, no further fixesFixedFreeBSD pin of 2026-08-032026-08-03e004ff15
FreeSense 1.11.1.9FixedFreeBSD pin of 2026-10-042026-10-04a52c50b4
FreeSense 1.21.2.0-DEVELOPMENTFixedFreeBSD pin of 2026-10-042026-10-04a52c50b4

Workaround

Set sysctl kern.ipc.tls.enable=0 to disable KTLS entirely.

What FreeBSD says

The KTLS receive path decrypted each record in place, assuming that the mbufs holding received data were anonymous and safe to modify. This assumption does not hold for data placed on a socket by sendfile(2), which can reference file-backed memory directly through non-anonymous M_EXTPG pages or EXT_SFBUF mbufs. When the sender transmits such data over a loopback connection without enabling KTLS on the transmit side, the file-backed mbufs reach the receiver's decryption path unchanged. Decrypting a record in place then overwrites the backing file's page cache instead of a private copy of the data.

Impact

An unprivileged local user who can read a file can overwrite its contents with data of their choosing by sending the file over a loopback connection on which they have enabled KTLS receive. The write modifies the page cache directly, so it bypasses file flags such as schg and is written back to disk. By overwriting a setuid binary or other trusted file, a local user can escalate privileges, potentially gaining full control of the affected system.

Excerpt from the FreeBSD advisory. Read the original for the full text and the fix.

Copied to clipboard