CVE-2026-120221frrouting double free
CVE-2026-120221 is a double free in frrouting, rated high (8.2 on CVSS 4.0).
Why this priority: High severity, with no exploitation signal yet.
Published · Updated · NVD status: Received
What it is
Memory is freed twice, which can corrupt the heap and lead to code execution. Code keeps using memory after releasing it, so an attacker who refills that memory can steer execution.
How it is reached
An attacker can exploit it over the network, without an account, and nobody has to click anything. Success also depends on conditions the attacker does not fully control.
What an attacker gains
A successful attack can take it offline. In practice, this kind of flaw lets an attacker crash the process, read memory, or in the worst case run code. The damage can spread past the vulnerable component into others.
Is it being exploited?
There is no public report of exploitation yet.
What to do
- No fixed version is listed yet. Find every place frrouting runs, watch the references for a fix, and plan a replacement if it is no longer supported.
- While there is no fix, keep it off the internet or behind a VPN, allowlist or authenticating proxy.
Description from NVD
In FRRouting 8.4 and later, bgpd frees the same memory twice when dynamic BGP neighbors disconnect, if the peer-group used by a "bgp listen range" also has a Site-of-Origin configured ("neighbor PG soo"). Each dynamic neighbor shares the peer-group's SoO value instead of getting its own copy, but frees it as its own when the neighbor is deleted, which happens as soon as its connection closes. The first disconnect leaves the peer-group pointing at freed memory, and the second disconnect frees it again, causing bgpd to abort and drop all BGP sessions on the router. Any host whose address falls inside the listen range can trigger this by opening and closing two TCP connections to the BGP port, without sending any BGP message and without knowing the AS number, and can repeat it each time bgpd restarts. If the peer-group has a TCP-MD5 password, only hosts that know the password can trigger it. Two ordinary flaps of legitimate dynamic neighbors have the same effect. Between the two frees, displaying the configuration ("show running-config") or establishing a dynamic neighbor also reads the freed memory, which can crash bgpd after a single disconnect. Only configurations that combine a listen range with a SoO on the same peer-group are affected.
What this means for your architecture.
A CVE names a product. Whether it matters depends on where that product sits in your systems: what reaches it, which trust boundary it guards and what it can reach once compromised. Veriom maps your components, their relationships and your trust boundaries from your code, cloud and delivery evidence, so you can see where a component like this sits. The radar itself does not look at your systems.
Components it touches
- Native code: operating systems, browsers and firmware. The flaw sits wherever native code reads untrusted data.
- Network appliances and media or file parsers. The flaw sits wherever native code reads untrusted data.
Trust boundaries in play
- Internet-facing entry points. No account is needed. Any instance reachable from outside your perimeter, through a load balancer, gateway, VPN or exposed admin port, is in scope.
- Isolation between components. The impact crosses out of the vulnerable component into others it should be isolated from.
- Wherever native code reads untrusted data. An attacker who crosses it can crash the process, read memory, or in the worst case run code.
Questions to answer about your own systems
- Where does frrouting run in your systems, and at which version?
- Which of those instances can be reached from the internet or partner networks?
- What can it reach once compromised: which data stores, secrets and services?
Read more
Sources
- CVE records and CVSS scores from the NVD CVE API. This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.
- Exploitation status from CISA’s Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.
- Exploit likelihood from FIRST’s Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS), refreshed daily.
- Explanations are written by Veriom from fixed templates over each record’s data, not by a person reviewing each CVE. Descriptions are quoted from the records as published.