CRITICAL Introduced in 2.6.12
sctp StaleCookie UAF
CVE-2026-98548
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
01Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: sctp: discard the rest of the packet on a stale-cookie error When an association is in COOKIE-ECHOED state and the peer sends a bundled [ERROR(Stale Cookie)][DATA] packet from one of its non-primary addresses, processing the ERROR chunk takes the non-fatal stale-cookie retry path sctp_sf_do_5_2_6_stale(), which queues SCTP_CMD_DEL_NON_PRIMARY while keeping the association alive. sctp_cmd_del_non_primary() removes every non-primary transport - including the very transport this packet arrived on, which is still referenced by the receive lookup and shared by all chunks of the packet via chunk->transport. sctp_assoc_rm_peer() does redirect asoc->peer.last_data_from away from the removed transport, but right afterwards the bundled DATA chunk makes sctp_assoc_bh_rcv() re-register asoc->peer.last_data_from = chunk->transport unconditionally, undoing the redirection with the just-removed transport. Once the packet is done, the receive reference is dropped and the transport is RCU-freed, while the surviving association keeps the dangling last_data_from. A later FWD-TSN (or the delayed SACK timer) makes sctp_gen_sack() dereference it (->param_flags and friends), and sctp_make_sack()/sctp_outq_select_transport() may write to the freed object and link it into the live transport list. This is a use-after-free triggerable by any malicious SCTP peer (or a local unprivileged user acting as one) with no capabilities required: BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in sctp_do_sm+0x498a/0x5660 Read of size 4 at addr ffff88800e1e356c by task poc/115 Call Trace: sctp_do_sm <- sctp_assoc_bh_rcv <- sctp_inq_push <- sctp_rcv <- ip_protocol_deliver_rcu <- ip_rcv Allocated: sctp_transport_new <- sctp_assoc_add_peer <- sctp_process_init (INIT-ACK processing) Freed: kfree <- sctp_transport_destroy_rcu <- rcu_core (call_rcu queued by sctp_transport_put at end of sctp_rcv) The buggy address is located 364 bytes inside of freed 1024-byte region [ffff88800e1e3400, ffff88800e1e3800), cache kmalloc-1k Note that commit 03a9d10ecf71 ("sctp: drop a chunk if its transport was removed") only covers the window between the receive lookup and the chunk processing (e.g. an ASCONF DEL-IP racing the socket backlog); here the transport is removed *while* the packet is being processed, by an earlier chunk of the same packet, so the drop in sctp_inq_push() does not reach this path. Verified with the bundled [ERROR(Stale Cookie)][DATA] + FWD-TSN reproducer: the KASAN report above still fires with that commit applied, and is gone with this patch on top. Fix it by discarding the rest of the packet on this path, as suggested by Xin. After the stale-cookie ERROR has sent the association back to COOKIE-WAIT and removed the non-primary transports, the remaining chunks of the packet can only run against the restarted handshake while referencing the removed arrival transport through chunk->transport: besides the last_data_from registration above, sctp_cmd_setup_t2() and the sctp_make_*() reply builders would also copy that pointer into association-lifetime state that sctp_assoc_rm_peer() has already sanitized. Let the peer retransmit them, in line with what sctp_inq_push() does for chunks whose transport was removed before processing.
02KernelScan AI Analysis
Risk summary
Any device with SCTP enabled and exposed to a network (Internet or LAN) is at risk. A remote attacker can send a crafted SCTP packet bundle containing a Stale Cookie ERROR followed by a DATA chunk to trigger a use-after-free in the kernel, leading to arbitrary code execution, privilege escalation, or kernel panic. No authentication or local access is required.
Vulnerability analysis
When an SCTP association is in the COOKIE-ECHOED state, a peer can send a bundled packet containing a Stale Cookie ERROR chunk followed by a DATA chunk from a non-primary address. Processing the ERROR chunk triggers a retry path that deletes all non-primary transports, including the transport the packet arrived on. The association's last_data_from pointer is redirected away from the removed transport, but the subsequent DATA chunk unconditionally re-registers the now-freed transport pointer. Once the packet is fully processed, the transport is freed while the association retains a dangling reference. Later operations such as FWD-TSN processing or delayed SACK timers dereference this freed memory, causing a use-after-free that allows an attacker to read or write kernel memory. The fix discards the remainder of the packet after handling the stale-cookie ERROR, preventing the bundled DATA chunk from re-registering the stale pointer. This vulnerability is reachable from any network peer that can send SCTP packets to a listening endpoint, requiring no privileges or local access.
Lifecycle
03Fix Versions
| Branch | Introduced | Fixed in | Patch commit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5.10 | 2.6.12 | 5.10.271 | c0af3fd150fd |
| 5.15 | 2.6.12 | 5.15.222 | 854c053c7145 |
| 6.1 | 2.6.12 | 6.1.189 | 965e21ea16ac |
| 6.12 | 2.6.12 | 6.12.112 | d68c9287b3ca |
| 6.18 | 2.6.12 | 6.18.55 | ec23855274a7 |
| 6.6 | 2.6.12 | 6.6.158 | 1cd246b214dc |
| 7.2 | 2.6.12 | 7.2.9 | 6df536c5acbc |
| mainline | 2.6.12 | 7.3 | 4498467a8af0 |
| cip/5.10 | 2.6.12 | 5.10.271-cip78 | c0af3fd150fd |
| cip/6.1 | 2.6.12 | 6.1.189-cip61 | 965e21ea16ac |
| cip/6.1-rt | 2.6.12 | 6.1.189-cip61-rt32 | 965e21ea16ac |
| cip/6.12 | 2.6.12 | 6.12.112-cip33 | d68c9287b3ca |
04CIP Kernels
State of the newest release of each Civil Infrastructure Platform SLTS tree, from CIP's own fix records.
| CIP tree | State |
|---|---|
| cip/6.12 | Fixed in 6.12.112-cip33 |
| cip/6.1 | Fixed in 6.1.189-cip61 |
| cip/6.1-rt | Fixed in 6.1.189-cip61-rt32 |
| cip/5.10 | Fixed in 5.10.271-cip78 |
| cip/5.10-rt | Affected — no CIP fix yet (latest 5.10.268-cip77-rt34) |
| cip/4.19 | Affected — no CIP fix yet (latest 4.19.325-cip136) |
| cip/4.19-rt | Affected — no CIP fix yet (latest 4.19.325-cip136-rt50) |
| cip/4.4 | Affected — no CIP fix yet (latest 4.4.302-cip115) |
| cip/4.4-rt | Affected — no CIP fix yet (latest 4.4.302-cip115-rt63) |