CVE intelligence and bounded remediation
CVE-2026-23450 — Linux Linux Kernel security vulnerability
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…
- Severity
- Critical
- CVSS
- 9.8 (3.1)
- Published
- 2026-04-03
- CISA KEV
- Not currently listed
- Ecosystem
- linux/kernel
- Weaknesses
- CWE-416
Affected products
- linux / linux_kernel
- linux / linux_kernel / 7.0
Matched remediation archetype
Use-after-free, double free, and expired resource use
This catalog composition supplies bounded fallback guidance. Explicitly reviewed curated workflows load with the complete record below.
Check exposure
- Trace ownership, references, callbacks, asynchronous tasks, and teardown paths around the affected object or resource.
- Identify reachable inputs and timing or state transitions that can release the object while references remain.
- Confirm affected builds, allocators, feature flags, architectures, and process privileges.
Remediate safely
- Apply the maintained ownership or lifetime fix and rebuild all artifacts containing the affected native code.
- Use explicit ownership, safe reference management, cancellation and join semantics, and idempotent teardown.
- Add deterministic lifetime tests plus isolated sanitizer and concurrency coverage for shutdown and error paths.
Authoritative sources
Complete CVE record and remediation plan
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