CVE-2026-98374: tcp: fix use-after-free of retransmit_skb_hint in tcp_send_synack()

Severity: high (CVSS 8.8 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.3% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2026-10-07 · updated 2026-10-24

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: tcp: fix use-after-free of retransmit_skb_hint in tcp_send_synack() When tcp_send_synack() replaces the cloned SYN skb at the head of the retransmit queue with a copy, it frees the original with tcp_rtx_queue_unlink_and_free() and only repairs tp->highest_sack. tp->retransmit_skb_hint keeps pointing at the freed skbuff_fclone_cache object. The dangling hint is read in tcp_verify_retransmit_hint() and used as the root of the rbtree walk in tcp_xmit_retransmit_queue(). An unprivileged TFO client (sendmsg(MSG_FASTOPEN)) can arm the hint with an attacker-supplied ICMP fragmentation-needed message, after which a simultaneous open frees the armed SYN skb: BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in tcp_mark_skb_lost (net/ipv4/tcp_input.c:1316) Read of size 4 at addr ffff88800604d928 by task swapper/1/0 Call Trace: tcp_mark_skb_lost (net/ipv4/tcp_input.c:1316) tcp_simple_retransmit (net/ipv4/tcp_input.c:3158) tcp_v4_err (net/ipv4/tcp_ipv4.c:587) Sync the hint to the copy.

Affected products

Linux kernel: 5.11 — fixed in 7.3

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 7.3. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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