Critical severity · published Apr 24, 2026
CVE-2026-31669
mptcp: fix slab-use-after-free in __inet_lookup_established
9.8
CVSS
0.5%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mptcp: fix slab-use-after-free in __inet_lookup_established The ehash table lookups are lockless and rely on SLAB_TYPESAFE_BY_RCU to guarantee socket memory stability during RCU read-side critical sections. Both tcp_prot and tcpv6_prot have their slab caches created with this flag via proto_register(). However, MPTCP's mptcp_subflow_init() copies tcpv6_prot into tcpv6_prot_override during inet_init() (fs_initcall, level 5), before inet6_init() (module_init/device_initcall, level 6) has called proto_register(&tcpv6_prot). At that point, tcpv6_prot.slab is still NULL, so tcpv6_prot_override.slab remains NULL permanently. This causes MPTCP v6 subflow child sockets to be allocated via kmalloc (falling into kmalloc-4k) instead of the TCPv6 slab cache. The kmalloc-4k cache lacks SLAB_TYPESAFE_BY_RCU, so when these sockets are freed without SOCK_RCU_FREE (which is cleared for child sockets by design), the memory can be immediately reused. Concurrent ehash lookups under rcu_read_lock can then access freed memory, triggering a slab-use-after-free in __inet_lookup_established. Fix this by splitting the IPv6-specific initialization out of mptcp_subflow_init() into a new mptcp_subflow_v6_init(), called from mptcp_proto_v6_init() before protocol registration. This ensures tcpv6_prot_override.slab correctly inherits the SLAB_TYPESAFE_BY_RCU slab cache.
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High
Scope
Unchanged
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)0.5% · higher than 41% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
KE
Kernel · Linux
5.12.1 before 5.15.203; 5.16 before 6.1.169; 6.2 before 6.6.135; 6.7 before 6.12.82; 6.13 before 6.18.23; 6.19 before 6.19.13; +8 more · source: NVD
LI
Linux · Linux
b19bc2945b40b9fd38e835700907ffe8534ef0de before f6e1f25fa5e733570f6d6fe37a4dfed2a0deba47; b19bc2945b40b9fd38e835700907ffe8534ef0de before fb1f54b7d16f393b8b65d328410f78b4beea8fcc; b19bc2945b40b9fd38e835700907ffe8534ef0de before 3fd6547f5b8ac99687be6d937a0321efda760597; b19bc2945b40b9fd38e835700907ffe8534ef0de before eb9c6aeb512f877cf397deb1e4526f646c70e4a7; b19bc2945b40b9fd38e835700907ffe8534ef0de before 15fa9ead4d5e6b6b9c794e84144146c917f2cb62; b19bc2945b40b9fd38e835700907ffe8534ef0de before b313e9037d98c13938740e5ebda7852929366dff; +2 more · source: vendor
SS
SIMATIC S7-1500 CPU 1518-4 PN/DP MFP · Siemens
V3.1.6; V3.1.5; V3.1.7; V3.1.6; V3.1.5; V3.1.7 · source: CISA
SS
SIMATIC S7-1500 CPU 1518F-4 PN/DP MFP · Siemens
V3.1.6; V3.1.5; V3.1.7; V3.1.6; V3.1.5; V3.1.7 · source: CISA
SS
SIPLUS S7-1500 CPU 1518-4 PN/DP MFP · Siemens
V3.1.6; V3.1.5; V3.1.7 · source: CISA