CVE-2025-21638: sctp: sysctl: auth_enable: avoid using current->nsproxy

Severity: medium (CVSS 5.5 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.2% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2025-01-19 · updated 2026-10-15
Weakness: CWE-476

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: sctp: sysctl: auth_enable: avoid using current->nsproxy As mentioned in a previous commit of this series, using the 'net' structure via 'current' is not recommended for different reasons: - Inconsistency: getting info from the reader's/writer's netns vs only from the opener's netns. - current->nsproxy can be NULL in some cases, resulting in an 'Oops' (null-ptr-deref), e.g. when the current task is exiting, as spotted by syzbot [1] using acct(2). The 'net' structure can be obtained from the table->data using container_of(). Note that table->data could also be used directly, but that would increase the size of this fix, while 'sctp.ctl_sock' still needs to be retrieved from 'net' structure.

Affected products

Linux kernel: from 3.10.41 before 3.11; from 3.12.20 before 3.13; from 3.14.5 before 5.4.290; from 5.5 before 5.10.234; from 5.11 before 5.15.177; from 5.16 before 6.1.125 — fixed in 3.11, 3.13, 5.10.234, 5.15.177, 5.4.290, 6.1.125

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 3.11, 3.13, 5.10.234, 5.15.177. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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