Look up another CVE · open CVE-2026-63971 in the interactive tracker
CVE-2026-63971
sctp: fix race between sctp_wait_for_connect and peeloff
Published 2026-07-19 (3 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-2026-63971 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 | fixed | 6.1.176-1 | Update the kernel and reboot. Fixed 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 | 7.0.12-1 | Update the kernel and reboot. Fixed in 7.0.12-1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts. |
| Debian unstablesid | fixed | 7.0.12-1 | Update the kernel and reboot. Fixed in 7.0.12-1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts. |
The vulnerability
What the bug is
sctp_wait_for_connect() drops and re-acquires the socket lock while waiting for the association to reach ESTABLISHED state. During this window, another thread can peeloff the association to a new socket via getsockopt(SCTP_SOCKOPT_PEELOFF), changing asoc->base.sk. After re-acquiring the old socket lock, sctp_wait_for_connect() returns success without noticing the migration — the caller then accesses the association under the wrong lock in sctp_datamsg_from_user(). Add the same sk != asoc->base.sk check that sctp_wait_for_sndbuf() already has, returning an error if the association was migrated while we slept.
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/socket.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
- 2026-07-19 (3 months ago)source
- CVSS
- 7.8 high
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:Hsource recompute it - Attack vector
- local (AV:L)source
- EPSS
- 0.13%, higher than 2.4% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 4.16 | 5.10.259 | 0e0d5bc76fd4 |
| 4.16 | 5.15.210 | bcfeac79af74 |
| 4.16 | 6.1.176 | 8e9b56051d24 |
| 4.16 | 6.6.143 | 634a9af8a26a |
| 4.16 | 6.12.93 | 7d2038d4b801 |
| 4.16 | 6.18.35 | 68667ee4c7da |
| 4.16 | 7.0.12 | 6140cfa72145 |
| 4.16 | 7.1 | f14fe6395a8b |
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:LAttack vector, local
- Exploitation requires local syscalls on an SCTP socket (`sendmsg`/`sendto` to trigger `sctp_wait_for_connect`, and `getsockopt(SCTP_SOCKOPT_PEELOFF)` to peel off the association). A remote peer can only help complete the SCTP handshake; it cannot invoke peeloff or the racing send path.
- AC:LAttack complexity, low
- The attacker controls both sides of the race by running concurrent threads on the same SCTP one-to-many socket, timing peeloff during the window where `sctp_wait_for_connect()` has released the socket lock. Required options (`SCTP_FRAGMENT_INTERLEAVE`, `SCTP_INTERLEAVING_SUPPORTED`, and `net.sctp.intl_enable`) are attacker-settable in a user/net namespace.
- PR:LPrivileges required, low
- No real-root capability is required; an unprivileged user can create SCTP sockets and drive the full race from a user namespace (`unshare -Urn`), including enabling `net.sctp.intl_enable` and the interleaving socket options needed to reach the vulnerable `sctp_sendmsg_to_asoc()` path.
- UI:NUser interaction, none
- Exploitation is fully attacker-driven through coordinated local threads and does not require any action from a victim user or administrator beyond normal SCTP socket use.
- S:UScope, unchanged
- Impact is confined to kernel memory integrity/availability within the same security authority; successful exploitation would be local privilege escalation, not a cross-boundary escape such as VM or container breakout by itself.
- C:HConfidentiality impact, high
- After peeloff migrates `asoc->base.sk`, the caller continues in `sctp_datamsg_from_user()` while holding the wrong socket lock, creating unsynchronized concurrent access to association/stream state that can corrupt kernel heap metadata and be leveraged for arbitrary kernel memory disclosure.
- I:HIntegrity impact, high
- The post-race path builds and queues DATA/I-DATA chunks via `sctp_datamsg_from_user()` and `sctp_primitive_SEND()` without the correct socket lock, enabling concurrent modification of association output queues and stream structures that can be turned into arbitrary kernel writes or control-flow hijacking.
- A:HAvailability impact, high
- Concurrent unsynchronized access to a live SCTP association after peeloff can cause kernel oops/panic or wedged associations, and the underlying race is a classic kernel concurrency defect with high availability impact even before full exploitation.