Critical severity · published Aug 22, 2026
CVE-2026-74688
sctp: clear control chunk transport if it is being removed
9.8
CVSS
0.5%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
sctp: clear control chunk transport if it is being removed
sctp_make_heartbeat_ack() caches the destination transport in
chunk->transport without taking a reference. When src_out_of_asoc_ok is
enabled, the HEARTBEAT ACK may remain queued on control_chunk_list instead
of being transmitted immediately.
If the peer transport is removed while the chunk is still queued,
sctp_assoc_rm_peer() drops the transport and schedules it for RCU freeing,
but only clears cached transport pointers in out_chunk_list. The queued
control chunk therefore retains a dangling transport pointer.
Once an ASCONF_ACK clears the suppression and the queued control chunk is
transmitted, SCTP dereferences the stale transport pointer, leading to a
use-after-free.
Fix this by also clearing chunk->transport for queued control chunks in
control_chunk_list when removing the transport.
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 43% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
LI
Linux · Linux
8a07eb0a50aebc8c95478d49c28c7f8419a26cef before dbb3f418a8665ffb0514e1a9520ab6a1c5d4d886; 8a07eb0a50aebc8c95478d49c28c7f8419a26cef before fad4766a74220fe579c6fcaa10ba01c23529814f; 8a07eb0a50aebc8c95478d49c28c7f8419a26cef before 936658ec41c28c397ef390140e02d4c91ade92f0; 8a07eb0a50aebc8c95478d49c28c7f8419a26cef before 8de65194a04d2552cd39b6c67d942d490f22d174; 8a07eb0a50aebc8c95478d49c28c7f8419a26cef before 6160e756db81d6cb63e3e2952efcf6c5134be385; 8a07eb0a50aebc8c95478d49c28c7f8419a26cef before 18d704bdd809377dfd81a3c2f42426763b5da227; +3 more · source: vendor
References
NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-74688
CVE.org
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-74688
git.kernel.org
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/18d704bdd809377dfd81a3c2f42426763b5da227
git.kernel.org
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4d6b9cac6df5e0cfef1a66b3edd7aebdb9e4b7e7
git.kernel.org
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6160e756db81d6cb63e3e2952efcf6c5134be385
git.kernel.org
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8de65194a04d2552cd39b6c67d942d490f22d174
git.kernel.org
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/936658ec41c28c397ef390140e02d4c91ade92f0
git.kernel.org
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c9158ceaf27780ef64534ad72f44ffde3f8ccc49
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