CVE-2026-68284
HighCVSS 7.8Exploitation Probability (EPSS)
Low risk3th percentile - higher than 3% of all known CVEs
Summary
A use-after-free vulnerability was found in the Linux kernel's tcp_bpf_sendmsg() function in the BPF sockmap mechanism. The issue arises from an unsafe comparison of the msg_tx pointer with psock->cork after reacquiring the socket lock, which can lead to double-freeing of memory (stale cork) when two threads send concurrently on the same socket.
Risk Assessment
The vulnerability could cause system crashes (panic) or potentially privilege escalation in environments using BPF sockmap. An attacker with local access and the ability to create sockets could trigger undesirable kernel behavior.
Recommendation
It is recommended to immediately update the Linux kernel to a version containing the fix (commit resolving the issue). If not possible, restrict access to BPF sockmap functionality for unprivileged users.
Original NVD description (English source)
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: bpf, sockmap: Fix cork use-after-free in tcp_bpf_sendmsg() tcp_bpf_sendmsg() keeps msg_tx across sk_stream_wait_memory(), which drops and reacquires the socket lock. Its error path tries to decide whether msg_tx names the local temporary message by comparing it with the current value of psock->cork. This comparison is unsafe when two threads send on the same socket: Thread A Thread B msg_tx = psock->cork sk_msg_alloc() fails sk_stream_wait_memory() releases the socket lock acquires the socket lock completes the cork psock->cork = NULL frees the cork reacquires the socket lock msg_tx != psock->cork sk_msg_free(msg_tx) The stale cork is therefore mistaken for the local temporary message and freed again. KASAN reported: BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in sk_msg_free+0x49/0x50 Read of size 4 at addr ffff88810c908800 by task poc/90 Call Trace: sk_msg_free+0x49/0x50 tcp_bpf_sendmsg+0x14f5/0x1cc0 __sys_sendto+0x32c/0x3a0 __x64_sys_sendto+0xdb/0x1b0 Allocated by task 89: __kasan_kmalloc+0x8f/0xa0 tcp_bpf_sendmsg+0x16b3/0x1cc0 Freed by task 91: __kasan_slab_free+0x43/0x70 kfree+0x131/0x3c0 tcp_bpf_sendmsg+0xec3/0x1cc0 msg_tx can only name the stack-local tmp or the shared cork. Check for tmp directly so a changed psock->cork cannot turn a shared message into an apparent local one.