CVE-2026-53224
sctp: validate embedded INIT chunk and address list lengths in cookie
Vexday Risk Score
3Low
SSVC decision (CISA)
Track
No exploitation signal → monitor
CVSS —EPSS 0.2%KEV nãoPoC —Nuclei —Metasploit —Patch —
Lifecycle
25 Jun 2026Published on NVD
Recommendation: Monitor — no exploitation signal at the moment.
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
sctp: validate embedded INIT chunk and address list lengths in cookie
sctp_unpack_cookie() only checked that the embedded INIT chunk length
did not exceed the remaining cookie payload, but did not ensure that the
INIT chunk is large enough to contain a complete INIT header.
A malformed COOKIE_ECHO can therefore carry a truncated INIT chunk whose
length field is smaller than sizeof(struct sctp_init_chunk). Later,
sctp_process_init() accesses INIT parameters unconditionally, which may
lead to out-of-bounds reads.
In addition, raw_addr_list_len is not fully validated against the
remaining cookie payload. When cookie authentication is disabled, an
attacker can supply an oversized raw_addr_list_len and cause
sctp_raw_to_bind_addrs() to read beyond the end of the cookie. The
address parser also lacks sufficient bounds checks for parameter headers
and lengths, allowing malformed address parameters to trigger
out-of-bounds reads.
Fix this by:
- requiring the embedded INIT chunk length to be at least sizeof(struct
sctp_init_chunk);
- validating that the INIT chunk and raw address list together fit
within the cookie payload;
- verifying sufficient data exists for each address parameter header and
payload before parsing it.
Note that sctp_verify_init() must be called after sctp_unpack_cookie()
and before sctp_process_init() when cookie authentication is disabled.
This will be addressed in a separate patch.
Affected products
Linux · LinuxWant to know if your infrastructure is exposed to this?
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