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CVE-2026-52924
sctp: purge outqueue on stale COOKIE-ECHO handling
Published 2026-06-24 (4 months ago) by the Linux kernel CNA. Subsystem net/sctp. Debian urgency: not yet assigned.
What to do, per Debian release
Debian's own status for CVE-2026-52924 in every release this site tracks, and what each one means in practice. Every status below is the one the Debian Security Team publishes for this CVE. source
| Release | Status | Version | What this means |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian 12bookworm | fixedDLA-4665-1 · 2026-07-03 · text | 6.1.176-1 | Update the kernel and reboot. DLA-4665-1 shipped the fix on 2026-07-03, in 6.1.176-1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts. |
| Debian 13trixie | fixed | 6.12.94-1 | Update the kernel and reboot. Fixed in 6.12.94-1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts. |
| Debian 14forky | fixed | 7.0.13-1 | Update the kernel and reboot. Fixed in 7.0.13-1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts. |
| Debian unstablesid | fixed | 7.0.13-1 | Update the kernel and reboot. Fixed in 7.0.13-1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts. |
The vulnerability
What the bug is
sctp_stream_update() is only invoked when the association is moved into COOKIE_WAIT during association setup/reconfiguration. In this path, the outbound stream scheduler state (stream->out_curr) is expected to be clean, since no user data should have been transmitted yet unless the state machine has already partially progressed. However, a corner case exists in sctp_sf_do_5_2_6_stale(): when a Stale Cookie ERROR is received, the association is rolled back from COOKIE_ECHOED to COOKIE_WAIT. In this scenario, user data may already have been queued and even bundled with the COOKIE-ECHO chunk. During the rollback, sctp_stream_update() frees the old stream table and installs a new one, but it does not invalidate stream->out_curr. As a result, out_curr may still point to a freed sctp_stream_out entry from the previous stream state. Later, SCTP scheduler dequeue paths (FCFS, RR, PRIO, etc.) rely on stream->out_curr->ext, which can lead to use-after-free once the old stream state has been released via sctp_stream_free(). This results in crashes such as (reported by Yuqi): BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in sctp_sched_fcfs_dequeue+0x13a/0x140 Read of size 8 at addr ff1100004d4d3208 by task mini_poc/9312 CPU: 1 UID: 1001 PID: 9312 Comm: mini_poc Not tainted 7.1.0-rc1-00305-gbd3a4795d574 #5 PREEMPT(full) sctp_sched_fcfs_dequeue+0x13a/0x140 sctp_outq_flush+0x1603/0x33e0 sctp_do_sm+0x31c9/0x5d30 sctp_assoc_bh_rcv+0x392/0x6f0 sctp_inq_push+0x1db/0x270 sctp_rcv+0x138d/0x3c10 Fix this by fully purging the association outqueue when handling the Stale Cookie case. This ensures all pending transmit and retransmit state is dropped, and any scheduler cached pointers are invalidated, making it safe to rebuild stream state during COOKIE_WAIT restart. Updating only stream->out_curr would be insufficient, since queued and retransmittable data would still reference the old stream state and trigger later use-after-free in dequeue paths.
Where it lives
The fix touches these files. If the subsystem is one you do not use, the practical exposure is lower, though the package is still the vulnerable one.
net/sctp/sm_statefuns.c
- What this is
- SCTP PROTOCOLMAINTAINERS section matched on net/sctp/ · linux-sctp@vger.kernel.org · Maintained
- Kernel module
- sctp
Check it on the machine
grep -w CONFIG_IP_SCTP /boot/config-$(uname -r)Reads the booted kernel's own configuration, on the machine and nowhere else. =y is built in, =m is a module, and an is not set line means the code is not there.
lsmod | grep -w sctpPrints a line if that module is loaded right now, and nothing if it is not. One that is not loaded can still be loaded later by anything that needs it.
Show whether Debian builds this, per release
Debian builds this as a loadable module. Every release below compiles it as a module on every flavour, so whether the code is in the running kernel depends on whether that module is loaded.
- bookworm, trixie, forky, sidm
- m
- a loadable module on every flavour - check lsmod, can be blacklisted
- Build switch
- CONFIG_IP_SCTP
From the configuration Debian publishes for every kernel flavour it builds. It covers only the architectures Debian ships a linux-config package for, and nothing about a kernel you built yourself. Debian's own status above stays authoritative about the source package.MAINTAINERS kbuild Makefiles Debian linux-config packages
Signals
- Published
- 2026-06-24 (4 months ago)source
- CVSS
- 9.8 critical
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:Hsource recompute it - Attack vector
- network (AV:N)source
- EPSS
- 0.53%, higher than 43.3% of all CVEssource
- CISA KEV
- not listedthe KEV catalogue
- Debian urgency
- not yet assignedsource
- Subsystem
- net/sctp
Upstream fixes
The versions the CNA records as introducing and fixing this, and the commit for each. source
| Introduced | Fixed in | Commit |
|---|---|---|
| 4.15 | 5.10.259 | 84b7a319105d |
| 4.15 | 5.15.210 | f46e1d1a7588 |
| 4.15 | 6.1.176 | 3c0741a441a7 |
| 4.15 | 6.6.143 | 2afc9e684dc7 |
| 4.15 | 6.12.94 | 1d4652f67790 |
| 4.15 | 6.18.36 | a6207349e703 |
| 4.15 | 7.0.13 | 83ade59e5da3 |
| 4.15 | 7.1 | e374b22e9b07 |
Debian advisories
| Advisory | Date | Shipped to | Debian |
|---|---|---|---|
| DLA-4671-1 | 2026-07-05 | bullseye 6.1.176-1~deb11u1 | tracker |
| DLA-4665-1 | 2026-07-03 | bookworm 6.1.176-1 | tracker |
| DLA-4664-1 | 2026-07-03 | bullseye 5.10.259-1 | tracker |
Why the CNA scored it this way
Quoted from the kernel CNA's own scoring file, word for word. A highlighted metric carries the most severe value CVSS v3.1 defines for it, which is what pushes the score up. source
- AV:NAttack vector, network
- The vulnerable SCTP state-machine path is reached by received SCTP packets, specifically an ERROR chunk with a Stale Cookie cause sent by the remote SCTP peer during COOKIE_ECHOED handling.
- AC:LAttack complexity, low
- A malicious SCTP peer can drive the required handshake state and send the stale-cookie ERROR; no race or hard-to-control kernel condition is required once data has been queued for COOKIE-ECHO bundling.
- PR:NPrivileges required, none
- The triggering packet is accepted from the network after SCTP verification-tag checks, but those are protocol state checks rather than authentication or privileges. No local account or administrative capability is required for a remote peer.
- UI:NUser interaction, none
- Exploitation does not require a human user action; it can occur during normal SCTP association setup and data transmission with a malicious peer.
- S:UScope, unchanged
- The impact is within the Linux kernel networking stack on the same system and does not cross a separate security authority such as a hypervisor or sandbox boundary.
- C:HConfidentiality impact, high
- The bug leaves stream->out_curr pointing at freed stream state, creating a use-after-free in scheduler dequeue paths. Per kernel CVSS guidance, use-after-free memory corruption can be leveraged for high confidentiality impact.
- I:HIntegrity impact, high
- The stale pointer use-after-free is kernel heap memory corruption and may be exploitable beyond a crash via heap manipulation. Per the required guidance, UAFs warrant high integrity impact.
- A:HAvailability impact, high
- The reported failure is a KASAN slab-use-after-free in SCTP dequeue leading to a kernel crash/oops. This provides high availability impact.