GHSA-m7g4-hqc4-25c8 · Severity: critical — In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net/smc: fix NULL...
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
Conclusion & alert: CVE-2026-23450 is rated Moderate Risk (46.8/100): CVSS Critical severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.07%). Mandatory action: Review affected assets and schedule remediation.
Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.
EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).
| # | Date | Old EPSS score | New EPSS score | Delta (New - Old) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2026-04-28 | 0.02% | 0.07% | +0.05% |
| 2 | 2026-04-04 | — | 0.02% | — |
Full EPSS history (2 records total)
CVSS metrics for this CVE.
| Base score | Version | Severity | Vector | Exploitability | Impact | Score source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9.8 | 3.1 | CRITICAL |
|
3.9 | 5.9 | 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 |
GHSA-m7g4-hqc4-25c8 · Severity: critical — In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net/smc: fix NULL...
| vendor | priority | summary | link |
|---|---|---|---|
debian
|
unimportant | CVE-2026-23450 unimportant priority: Debian including 2 source packages (linux, linux-6.1), 6 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 6. | https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2026-23450 |
redhat
|
medium | — | https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-23450 |
suse
|
high | CVE-2026-23450 severity important: SUSE including 18 source package names (cluster-md-kmp-default, dlm-kmp-default, …), 92 product×package rows across 19 product lines (SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4-LTSS, SUSE Linux Enterprise Live Patching 12 SP5, … (19 product lines)): Known Not Affected 92. | https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-23450/ |
ubuntu
|
medium | CVE-2026-23450 medium priority: Ubuntu including 157 source packages (linux, linux-allwinner-5.19, …), 1413 status rows across 9 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, questing, resolute, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 1018, ignored 169, needed 87, released 83, not-affected 56. | https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2026-23450 |
| Vendor | Product | Version | Raw CPE |
|---|---|---|---|
| linux | linux_kernel | >= 5.15.174, < 5.15.203 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux | linux_kernel | >= 5.18, < 6.1.167 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux | linux_kernel | >= 6.2, < 6.6.130 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux | linux_kernel | >= 6.7, < 6.12.78 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux | linux_kernel | >= 6.13, < 6.18.20 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux | linux_kernel | >= 6.19, < 6.19.10 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux | linux_kernel | 7.0 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.0:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux | linux_kernel | 7.0 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.0:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux | linux_kernel | 7.0 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.0:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux | linux_kernel | 7.0 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.0:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux | linux_kernel | 7.0 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.0:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:* |