sctp: fix soft lockup from unpadded ASCONF-ACK parameter iteration
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: sctp: fix soft lockup from unpadded ASCONF-ACK parameter iteration sctp_verify_asconf() walks ASCONF-ACK parameters with sctp_walk_params(), which advances by SCTP_PAD4(length), while the consumer sctp_get_asconf_response() iterates the same parameters advancing by the raw length, without padding. A single odd-length parameter desynchronises the two walks and makes the consumer interpret attacker-controlled bytes at a misaligned offset. When those bytes yield a length of zero, the while loop over asconf_ack_len makes no progress, spinning forever in softirq context, and the watchdog reports a soft lockup. All reads stay within the received skb, so the lockup is a pure remote denial of service. A remote peer can trigger it with a crafted ASCONF-ACK on an ADD-IP enabled association with an outstanding ASCONF (RFC 5061 section 4.1.2 requires the chunk to be authenticated, but the predefined empty key id 0 allows the peer to compute the same association HMAC from publicly exchanged parameters, so the gate does not help). The SCTP_PARAM_ERR_CAUSE case of sctp_verify_asconf() also performs no length check, letting a parameter without a complete error header reach the consumer, which reads errhdr.cause past the end of the parameter, an out-of-bounds read. Reject SCTP_PARAM_ERR_CAUSE parameters shorter than sizeof(struct sctp_addip_param) + sizeof(struct sctp_errhdr) at the verifier, and advance the consumer iterator
CVE-2026-98123
Primary source · Revision 1
Imported from structured advisory data. Source references identify upstream records or fields; verify affected versions and your deployed configuration.
Security context
Source reference: cve:CVE-2026-98123
Linux
Source reference: /containers/cna/affected/0/product
- Affected versions
- Not stated in this record
- Fixed versions
- Not stated in this record
- Prerequisites
- Not stated in this record
Linux
Source reference: /containers/cna/affected/1/product
- Affected versions
- Not stated in this record
- Fixed versions
- Not stated in this record
- Prerequisites
- Not stated in this record
Structured affected-version data
Original package identities and version rules from this source.
[
{
"repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
"vendor": "Linux",
"product": "Linux",
"versions": [
{
"status": "affected",
"version": "1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2",
"lessThan": "ba54cad229977f4fae6355dbdaf117088414fdd0",
"versionType": "git"
},
{
"status": "affected",
"version": "1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2",
"lessThan": "7d8e7ab6a0665888beee91f7ad77ac805963c4fd",
"versionType": "git"
},
{
"status": "affected",
"version": "1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2",
"lessThan": "5fbc6a778d5fce7628821236972596acb18e1065",
"versionType": "git"
},
{
"status": "affected",
"version": "1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2",
"lessThan": "4548d843e7b29f6d150d8caae4e64015fa226b0c",
"versionType": "git"
},
{
"status": "affected",
"version": "1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2",
"lessThan": "abf59d7f6fff23227256e8199aca5ade45758f8b",
"versionType": "git"
},
{
"status": "affected",
"version": "1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2",
"lessThan": "3be02999ab9131a4b96eb1eda4ca48b1cea80f03",
"versionType": "git"
},
{
"status": "affected",
"version": "1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2",
"lessThan": "7ba84e2971d208a2d6413a334ec28a8a32cdce0f",
"versionType": "git"
},
{
"status": "affected",
"version": "1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2",
"lessThan": "2cb0b0b1ed69430bf73740377ea0a1c44c50db63",
"versionType": "git"
}
],
"programFiles": [
"net/sctp/sm_make_chunk.c"
],
"defaultStatus": "unaffected"
},
{
"repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
"vendor": "Linux",
"product": "Linux",
"versions": [
{
"status": "affected",
"version": "2.6.12"
},
{
"status": "unaffected",
"version": "0",
"lessThan": "2.6.12",
"versionType": "semver"
},
{
"status": "unaffected",
"version": "5.10.271",
"versionType": "semver",
"lessThanOrEqual": "5.10.*"
},
{
"status": "unaffected",
"version": "5.15.222",
"versionType": "semver",
"lessThanOrEqual": "5.15.*"
},
{
"status": "unaffected",
"version": "6.1.189",
"versionType": "semver",
"lessThanOrEqual": "6.1.*"
},
{
"status": "unaffected",
"version": "6.6.158",
"versionType": "semver",
"lessThanOrEqual": "6.6.*"
},
{
"status": "unaffected",
"version": "6.12.111",
"versionType": "semver",
"lessThanOrEqual": "6.12.*"
},
{
"status": "unaffected",
"version": "6.18.53",
"versionType": "semver",
"lessThanOrEqual": "6.18.*"
},
{
"status": "unaffected",
"version": "7.2.7",
"versionType": "semver",
"lessThanOrEqual": "7.2.*"
},
{
"status": "unaffected",
"version": "7.3",
"versionType": "original_commit_for_fix",
"lessThanOrEqual": "*"
}
],
"programFiles": [
"net/sctp/sm_make_chunk.c"
],
"defaultStatus": "affected"
}
]- Related CVEs
- CVE-2026-98123
Source reference:
/cveMetadata/cveId
Publisher severity
No explicit severity was provided.
- Event
- #38221 · Revision 1
- Added to Heist Feed
- Publisher date