CVE-2026-23450

CRITICAL EPSS 38.3%
Published Apr 3, 20262mo ago · Modified Jun 17, 20261w ago
9.8 CVSS 3.1
Critical
Find Similar
Published Apr 3, 2026 2mo ago
Last Modified Jun 17, 2026 1w ago

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net/smc: fix NULL dereference and UAF in smc_tcp_syn_recv_sock() Syzkaller reported a panic in smc_tcp_syn_recv_sock() [1]. smc_tcp_syn_recv_sock() is called in the TCP receive path (softirq) via icsk_af_ops->syn_recv_sock on the clcsock (TCP listening socket). It reads sk_user_data to get the smc_sock pointer. However, when the SMC listen socket is being closed concurrently, smc_close_active() sets clcsock->sk_user_data to NULL under sk_callback_lock, and then the smc_sock itself can be freed via sock_put() in smc_release(). This leads to two issues: 1) NULL pointer dereference: sk_user_data is NULL when accessed. 2) Use-after-free: sk_user_data is read as non-NULL, but the smc_sock is freed before its fields (e.g., queued_smc_hs, ori_af_ops) are accessed. The race window looks like this (the syzkaller crash [1] triggers via the SYN cookie path: tcp_get_cookie_sock() -> smc_tcp_syn_recv_sock(), but the normal tcp_check_req() path has the same race): CPU A (softirq) CPU B (process ctx) tcp_v4_rcv() TCP_NEW_SYN_RECV: sk = req->rsk_listener sock_hold(sk) /* No lock on listener */ smc_close_active(): write_lock_bh(cb_lock) sk_user_data = NULL write_unlock_bh(cb_lock) ... smc_clcsock_release() sock_put(smc->sk) x2 -> smc_sock freed! tcp_check_req() smc_tcp_syn_recv_sock(): smc = user_data(sk) -> NULL or dangling smc->queued_smc_hs -> crash! Note that the clcsock and smc_sock are two independent objects with separate refcounts. TCP stack holds a reference on the clcsock, which keeps it alive, but this does NOT prevent the smc_sock from being freed. Fix this by using RCU and refcount_inc_not_zero() to safely access smc_sock. Since smc_tcp_syn_recv_sock() is called in the TCP three-way handshake path, taking read_lock_bh on sk_callback_lock is too heavy and would not survive a SYN flood attack. Using rcu_read_lock() is much more lightweight. - Set SOCK_RCU_FREE on the SMC listen socket so that smc_sock freeing is deferred until after the RCU grace period. This guarantees the memory is still valid when accessed inside rcu_read_lock(). - Use rcu_read_lock() to protect reading sk_user_data. - Use refcount_inc_not_zero(&smc->sk.sk_refcnt) to pin the smc_sock. If the refcount has already reached zero (close path completed), it returns false and we bail out safely. Note: smc_hs_congested() has a similar lockless read of sk_user_data without rcu_read_lock(), but it only checks for NULL and accesses the global smc_hs_wq, never dereferencing any smc_sock field, so it is not affected. Reproducer was verified with mdelay injection and smc_run, the issue no longer occurs with this patch applied. [1] https://syzkaller.appspot.com/bug?extid=827ae2bfb3a3529333e9

CVSS Details

Base Score
9.8
Exploitability
3.9
Impact
5.9
Vector string
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Attack Vector Network
Attack Complexity Low
Privileges Required None
User Interaction None
Scope Unchanged
Confidentiality High
Integrity High
Availability High

Threat Intelligence

EPSS Exploit Probability
38.3% percentile
Exploit & Patch Status
No Known Exploit
Patch Available

Weaknesses 1

CWE-416 Use After Free Memory Safety

Affected Products 11

VendorProductVersionRange
linuxlinux_kernel*≥5.15.174  –  <5.15.203
linuxlinux_kernel*≥5.18  –  <6.1.167
linuxlinux_kernel*≥6.2  –  <6.6.130
linuxlinux_kernel*≥6.7  –  <6.12.78
linuxlinux_kernel*≥6.13  –  <6.18.20
linuxlinux_kernel*≥6.19  –  <6.19.10
linuxlinux_kernel7.0any
linuxlinux_kernel7.0any
linuxlinux_kernel7.0any
linuxlinux_kernel7.0any
linuxlinux_kernel7.0any

References 7

  • git.kernel.org https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1e4f873879e075bbd4eb1c644d6933303ac5eba4
    Patch
  • git.kernel.org https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1fab5ece76fb42a761178dcd0ebcbf578377b0dd
    Patch
  • git.kernel.org https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6d5e4538364b9ceb1ac2941a4deb86650afb3538
    Patch
  • git.kernel.org https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/cadf3da46c15523fba90d80c9955f536ee3b4023
    Patch
  • git.kernel.org https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f00fc26c8a06442b225a350fe000c0a11483e6a3
    Patch
  • git.kernel.org https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f315277856caeafcd996c2611afc085ca2d53275
    Patch
  • git.kernel.org https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/fd7579f0a2c84ba8a7d4f206201b50dc8ddf90c2
    Patch

Remediation

  • git.kernel.org https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1e4f873879e075bbd4eb1c644d6933303ac5eba4
    Patch
  • git.kernel.org https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1fab5ece76fb42a761178dcd0ebcbf578377b0dd
    Patch
  • git.kernel.org https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6d5e4538364b9ceb1ac2941a4deb86650afb3538
    Patch
  • git.kernel.org https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/cadf3da46c15523fba90d80c9955f536ee3b4023
    Patch
  • git.kernel.org https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f00fc26c8a06442b225a350fe000c0a11483e6a3
    Patch
  • git.kernel.org https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f315277856caeafcd996c2611afc085ca2d53275
    Patch
  • git.kernel.org https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/fd7579f0a2c84ba8a7d4f206201b50dc8ddf90c2
    Patch