CVE-2026-74688: sctp: clear control chunk transport if it is being removed

Severity: critical (CVSS 9.8 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.5% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2026-08-22 · updated 2026-10-16

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.

Affected products

Linux kernel: 3.1 — fixed in 7.2

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 7.2. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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