Local denial of service via SCTP wrong-lock race
Published Jul 19, 2026 · Updated Jul 19, 2026
Race condition in the Linux kernel SCTP implementation allows local users to cause system instability through concurrent socket operations. The sctp_wait_for_connect() path reacquires the original socket lock but accepts success after SCTP_SOCKOPT_PEELOFF migrates the association, so sctp_datamsg_from_user() continues under the wrong lock. Exploitation requires a local low-privileged user to race a connecting SCTP association against peeloff, resulting in incorrect memory access and denial of service.
Summary
What happened
Race condition in the Linux kernel SCTP implementation allows local users to cause system instability through concurrent socket operations. The sctp_wait_for_connect() path reacquires the original socket lock but accepts success after SCTP_SOCKOPT_PEELOFF migrates the association, so sctp_datamsg_from_user() continues under the wrong lock. Exploitation requires a local low-privileged user to race a connecting SCTP association against peeloff, resulting in incorrect memory access and denial of service.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-63971
- Published
- Jul 19, 2026
- Updated
- Jul 19, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux Kernel
- Classifications
- CWE-367, T1499.004
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Jul 19, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Jul 19, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.
Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=4.16
- Affected versionversion=668c9beb9020d5834ee9e43c208190a07d2b1928 <0e0d5bc76fd4267a71334fcc8f1a5fbcf997845d
- Affected versionversion=668c9beb9020d5834ee9e43c208190a07d2b1928 <6140cfa721451fa6e18e134e709703c2bf34d0fb
- Affected versionversion=668c9beb9020d5834ee9e43c208190a07d2b1928 <634a9af8a26a84d8b0d7b3b643204b344b42d9fb
- Affected versionversion=668c9beb9020d5834ee9e43c208190a07d2b1928 <68667ee4c7dadf7f63167234e2a1af09b3f7874e
- Affected versionversion=668c9beb9020d5834ee9e43c208190a07d2b1928 <7d2038d4b80166f7bead8d07eba3b97405816c21
- Affected versionversion=668c9beb9020d5834ee9e43c208190a07d2b1928 <8e9b56051d24540cfbf39194618708c4a7633549
- Affected versionversion=668c9beb9020d5834ee9e43c208190a07d2b1928 <bcfeac79af740735ace44008b4a11b8e5add20f5
- Affected versionversion=668c9beb9020d5834ee9e43c208190a07d2b1928 <f14fe6395a8b3d961a61e138ad7b36ba3626dd4e
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
No public exploit references are available in this record.
Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.
Technologies
Your stack
See the directory against your own environment.
Your stack
Check the software in your environment
Book a demo to see how Hinoki identifies affected software and validates exploitability in your environment.
Book a demo