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CVSS 9.8 · CRITICAL

CVE-2026-53246

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: sctp: validate cached peer INIT chunk length in COOKIE_ECHO processing When a listening SCTP server processes a COOKIE_ECHO chunk, the cached peer INIT chunk embedded after the cookie is parsed and its parameters are later walked by sctp_process_init() using sctp_walk_params(). However, the chunk header length of this cached INIT chunk was not validated against the remaining buffer in the COOKIE_ECHO payload. If the length field is inflated, the parameter walk can run beyond the actual received data, leading to out-of-bounds reads and potential memory corruption during later parameter handling (e.g. STATE_COOKIE processing and kmemdup() copies). Add a bounds check in sctp_unpack_cookie() to ensure the cached INIT chunk length does not exceed the available data in the COOKIE_ECHO buffer before it is used.

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Analysis

A critical vulnerability has been identified in the Linux kernel SCTP implementation. It allows a remote attacker to cause memory corruption or potentially execute code by sending a crafted handshake packet. Systems utilizing the SCTP protocol should be patched immediately.

Relevant roles

LinuxBackendCyberSecurityCDockerKubernetes

Severity

Score: 9.8(CRITICAL)
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
AV: NETWORK
AC: LOW
PR: NONE
UI: NONE
S: UNCHANGED
C: HIGH
I: HIGH
A: HIGH

EPSS

Probability of exploitation (next 30 days): 0.0017 (0.2%)
Percentile: 7.0%
EPSS: 2026-06-27

Technical description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: sctp: validate cached peer INIT chunk length in COOKIE_ECHO processing When a listening SCTP server processes a COOKIE_ECHO chunk, the cached peer INIT chunk embedded after the cookie is parsed and its parameters are later walked by sctp_process_init() using sctp_walk_params(). However, the chunk header length of this cached INIT chunk was not validated against the remaining buffer in the COOKIE_ECHO payload. If the length field is inflated, the parameter walk can run beyond the actual received data, leading to out-of-bounds reads and potential memory corruption during later parameter handling (e.g. STATE_COOKIE processing and kmemdup() copies). Add a bounds check in sctp_unpack_cookie() to ensure the cached INIT chunk length does not exceed the available data in the COOKIE_ECHO buffer before it is used.

Published: 6/25/2026, 9:16:42 AM
Last modified: 6/28/2026, 8:16:40 AM

References

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