In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: can: dev: can_get_echo_skb(): prevent call to kfree_skb() in hard IRQ context If a driver calls can_get_echo_skb() during a hardware IRQ (which is often, but not always, the case), the 'WARN_ON(in_irq)' in net/core/skbuff.c#skb_release_head_state() might be triggered, under network congestion circumstances, together with the potential risk of a NULL pointer dereference. The root cause of this issue is the call to kfree_skb() instead of dev_kfree_skb_irq() in net/core/dev.c#enqueue_to_backlog(). This patch prevents the skb to be freed within the call to netif_rx() by incrementing its reference count with skb_get(). The skb is finally freed by one of the in-irq-context safe functions: dev_consume_skb_any() or dev_kfree_skb_any(). The "any" version is used because some drivers might call can_get_echo_skb() in a normal context. The reason for this issue to occur is that initially, in the core network stack, loopback skb were not supposed to be received in hardware IRQ context. The CAN stack is an exeption. This bug was previously reported back in 2017 in [1] but the proposed patch never got accepted. While [1] directly modifies net/core/dev.c, we try to propose here a smoother modification local to CAN network stack (the assumption behind is that only CAN devices are affected by this issue). [1] http://lore.kernel.org/r/[email protected]
Conclusion & alert: CVE-2020-36789 is rated Low Risk (23.7/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.15%). Mandatory action: Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.
Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.
EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).
| # | Date | Old EPSS score | New EPSS score | Delta (New - Old) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2026-06-17 | 0.15% | 0.15% | +0.01% |
| 2 | 2026-06-15 | 0.02% | 0.15% | +0.13% |
| 3 | 2026-05-26 | — | 0.02% | — |
Full EPSS history (5 records total)
CVSS metrics for this CVE.
| Base score | Version | Severity | Vector | Exploitability | Impact | Score source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5.5 | 3.1 | MEDIUM |
|
1.8 | 3.6 | [email protected] |
| 5.5 | 3.1 | MEDIUM |
|
1.8 | 3.6 | 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0 |
| vendor | priority | summary | link |
|---|---|---|---|
debian
|
not yet assigned | CVE-2020-36789 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (linux), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. | https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2020-36789 |
redhat
|
medium | — | https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2020-36789 |
suse
|
medium | — | https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2020-36789/ |
ubuntu
|
medium | CVE-2020-36789 medium priority: Ubuntu including 158 source packages (linux, linux-allwinner-5.19, …), 1551 status rows across 10 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 1145, ignored 147, released 130, not-affected 129. | https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2020-36789 |
| Vendor | Product | Version | Raw CPE |
|---|---|---|---|
| linux | linux_kernel | >= 2.6.31, < 4.4.244 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux | linux_kernel | >= 4.5, < 4.9.244 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux | linux_kernel | >= 4.10, < 4.14.207 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux | linux_kernel | >= 4.15, < 4.19.158 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux | linux_kernel | >= 4.20, < 5.4.78 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux | linux_kernel | >= 5.5, < 5.9.9 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux | linux_kernel | 5.10 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.10:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux | linux_kernel | 5.10 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.10:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:* |