NULL pointer dereference in Linux SCTP send path after connect wait
Key facts
- Attack vector
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- Privileges required
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- User interaction
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- Attack complexity
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- Impact type
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- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
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- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 7 without a fix
No CVSS vector from any source. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat.
Summary
The Linux kernel SCTP implementation, affected from 4.16 onward, can dereference a NULL stream extension in the send path. When message interleaving is enabled, a sender waits for association establishment with the socket lock released, and the peer's handshake can shrink the output stream count and free a stream the sender already checked. Sending on that stream then causes a NULL pointer dereference that can crash the kernel.
Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-11-02
Description from the CNA
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: sctp: revalidate output stream after association connect wait When message interleaving is enabled, the first send waits for association establishment before building its data chunks. The wait drops the socket lock, and handshake processing can reduce the output stream count to the peer-advertised inbound stream count. sctp_stream_init() then frees the extension of every removed stream. The sender resumes with the stream that it checked before the wait. If the peer removed that stream, sctp_outq_tail() later dereferences its NULL extension. Fatal-oops policies then panic the host. KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x38-0x3f] RIP: sctp_outq_tail+0x49e/0xaa0 Call Trace: sctp_primitive_SEND sctp_sendmsg_to_asoc sctp_sendmsg A range check alone is insufficient. Stream reconfiguration can grow the output count again while the lock is released without recreating extensions freed by the earlier shrink. The stream can then be in range while its extension remains NULL. The send-buffer wait has the same issue. Factor the range and extension checks into a helper and repeat both after each send-path wait that drops the socket lock. Once the lock is reacquired, the validation remains stable through data creation and queueing. If validation fails after the connect wait, the auto-created association is already established. Return ESRCH so the existing caller path keeps it under state-machine ownership instead of freeing it directly, which would leave protocol, counter and socket state inconsistent.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
Not available: CISA has not published SSVC decision points for this record.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Linux | Linux | 4.16 and later | 5.10.273, 5.15.224, 6.1.191, 6.6.161, 6.12.115, 6.18.59, 7.2.13, 7.3 | Patch available | CNA |
- Linux VendorLinux Affected 4.16 and later Fixed in 5.10.273, 5.15.224, 6.1.191, 6.6.161, 6.12.115, 6.18.59, 7.2.13, 7.3 Patch available CNA
Remediation
Update the Linux kernel to 5.10.273, 5.15.224, 6.1.191, 6.6.161, 6.12.115, 6.18.59, 7.2.13 or 7.3, depending on the stable branch in use. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 has no fix planned, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, 8, 9 and 10 and Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 and 5 have no fix available.
Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-11-02
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 5.10.273, 5.15.224, 6.1.191, 6.6.161, 6.12.115, 6.18.59, 7.2.13, 7.3
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 5 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
Timeline
- 2026-10-28 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-99165
- 2026-10-28 Alias added: GHSA-h9p5-q3g4-gm7m
- 2026-10-30 Fix available: Linux/Linux@26af2969b29cc5eb893a454fee2a36b39521a5bd, Linux/[email protected], Linux/[email protected] +7 · CNA
- 2026-10-30 5 new references · CNA
- 2026-11-01 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
- 2026-11-01 CVSS score added · Red Hat
- 2026-11-02 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
References
Other 8
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/26af2969b29cc5eb893a454fee2a36b39521a5bd
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b925652ba3a3ee11b2617e68de92379144b5b84b
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/504bdf55438ad4b1ecbfba0f7fe95e1933f7fb66
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/994694a2d4611d7b76cf05ff401a92b1c0451e1f
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/84f741b7bb3974e674c9739055826aa040362bba
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/77a63d1b813b08c4e5a948f5e04fbaca6176aa8f
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/fd56ac95ec31a05b66e8938debfa847f49c0e993
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b7ad72414c673ce1fa1f463e807cd4f34f8be9bf
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Sources
- CVE-2026-99165 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-99165 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-h9p5-q3g4-gm7m · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2026-99165 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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