Use-After-Free Vulnerability in Linux Kernel SCTP Implementation

CVE-2026-52924

What is CVE-2026-52924?

CVE-2026-52924 is a use-after-free vulnerability identified in the Linux kernel's Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) implementation. SCTP is a transport layer protocol used for reliable, message-oriented communication and is commonly employed in telecommunications, video conferencing, and other real-time applications. This vulnerability arises during the processing of stale COOKIE-ECHO handling in SCTP association setups and reconfigurations, specifically when the protocol attempts to roll back an association state after receiving a Stale Cookie ERROR message.

In this scenario, user data may be inadvertently queued and later referenced after the old stream state has been freed, leading to a use-after-free condition. As a result, this can cause crashes or instability in applications using SCTP. The failure to properly invalidate pointers to the old stream state poses a significant risk to system integrity and reliability, potentially allowing for unexpected behavior during SCTP communication.

Potential impact of CVE-2026-52924

1. System Crashes: Exploitations of this vulnerability can lead to crashes due to the erroneous access of freed memory, resulting in downtime and disruption of services that rely on SCTP communications.

2. Data Integrity Issues: The use-after-free condition can jeopardize the integrity of transmitted data, leading to corrupted or lost messages in critical applications such as telecommunications and media streaming, which can have significant operational consequences.

3. Security Risks: Although not currently confirmed to be exploited in the wild, the existence of this vulnerability presents an opportunity for attackers to compromise systems. If exploited, it could potentially be leveraged to execute arbitrary code or disrupt normal operations, posing broader security risks to affected infrastructure.

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