IM
IronMonkey Threat Research

CVE-2026-31669 CRITICAL

Published: 2026-04-24 | Last Modified: 2026-07-14 | Status: Modified

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mptcp: fix slab-use-after-free in __inet_lookup_established The ehash table lookups are lockless and rely on SLAB_TYPESAFE_BY_RCU to guarantee socket memory stability during RCU read-side critical sections. Both tcp_prot and tcpv6_prot have their slab caches created with this flag via proto_register(). However, MPTCP's mptcp_subflow_init() copies tcpv6_prot into tcpv6_prot_override during inet_init() (fs_initcall, level 5), before inet6_init() (module_init/device_initcall, level 6) has called proto_register(&tcpv6_prot). At that point, tcpv6_prot.slab is still NULL, so tcpv6_prot_override.slab remains NULL permanently. This causes MPTCP v6 subflow child sockets to be allocated via kmalloc (falling into kmalloc-4k) instead of the TCPv6 slab cache. The kmalloc-4k cache lacks SLAB_TYPESAFE_BY_RCU, so when these sockets are freed without SOCK_RCU_FREE (which is cleared for child sockets by design), the memory can be immediately reused. Concurrent ehash lookups under rcu_read_lock can then access freed memory, triggering a slab-use-after-free in __inet_lookup_established. Fix this by splitting the IPv6-specific initialization out of mptcp_subflow_init() into a new mptcp_subflow_v6_init(), called from mptcp_proto_v6_init() before protocol registration. This ensures tcpv6_prot_override.slab correctly inherits the SLAB_TYPESAFE_BY_RCU slab cache.

CVSS Metrics

Base Score: 9.8 (CRITICAL)

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Attack VectorNETWORK
Attack ComplexityLOW
Privileges RequiredNONE
User InteractionNONE
ScopeUNCHANGED
Confidentiality ImpactHIGH
Integrity ImpactHIGH
Availability ImpactHIGH

Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Type: Secondary

Exploitability Score: 3.9

Impact Score: 5.9

Weaknesses

Source Type Description
[email protected] Primary
en CWE-416

Affected Products

Vendor Product Version Update Type
linux linux_kernel * <built-in method update of dict object at 0x702b51b5ad00> Operating System
linux linux_kernel * <built-in method update of dict object at 0x702b51b58ec0> Operating System
linux linux_kernel * <built-in method update of dict object at 0x702bdcf6b780> Operating System
linux linux_kernel * <built-in method update of dict object at 0x702b4032b800> Operating System
linux linux_kernel * <built-in method update of dict object at 0x702b51b59840> Operating System
linux linux_kernel * <built-in method update of dict object at 0x702b51b59340> Operating System
linux linux_kernel 5.12 <built-in method update of dict object at 0x702bddf539c0> Operating System
linux linux_kernel 7.0 <built-in method update of dict object at 0x702bdcf68280> Operating System
linux linux_kernel 7.0 <built-in method update of dict object at 0x702c04583680> Operating System
linux linux_kernel 7.0 <built-in method update of dict object at 0x702b51b5a9c0> Operating System
linux linux_kernel 7.0 <built-in method update of dict object at 0x702b4032b200> Operating System
linux linux_kernel 7.0 <built-in method update of dict object at 0x702b4032b040> Operating System
linux linux_kernel 7.0 <built-in method update of dict object at 0x702bdcf694c0> Operating System
linux linux_kernel 7.0 <built-in method update of dict object at 0x702bddf52900> Operating System

Affected Configurations

Operator: OR

Vulnerable CPE
Yes cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
Yes cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
Yes cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
Yes cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
Yes cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
Yes cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
Yes cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.12:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
Yes cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.0:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
Yes cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.0:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*
Yes cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.0:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:*
Yes cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.0:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:*
Yes cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.0:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:*
Yes cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.0:rc6:*:*:*:*:*:*
Yes cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.0:rc7:*:*:*:*:*:*

References

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