Buffer overflow in Linux
CVE-2026-53246
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: sctp: validate cached peer INIT chunk length in COOKIE_ECHO processing When a listening SCTP server processes a COOKIE_ECHO chunk, the cached peer INIT chunk embedded after the cookie is parsed and its parameters are later walked by sctp_process_init() using sctp_walk_params(). However, the chunk header length of this cached INIT chunk was not validated against the remaining buffer in the COOKIE_ECHO payload. If the length field is inflated, the parameter walk can run beyond the actual received data, leading to out-of-bounds reads and potential memory corruption during later parameter handling (e.g. STATE_COOKIE processing and kmemdup() copies). Add a bounds check in sctp_unpack_cookie() to ensure the cached INIT chunk length does not exceed the available data in the COOKIE_ECHO buffer before it is used.
Vulnerability class: Buffer Overflow
Published · last modified .
CVSS v3 metric
CVSS v3 base score 9.8 (Critical). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.
EPSS exploit prediction
EPSS: 0.004 (36.1th percentile), scored .
Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 36th percentile — 36.1% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.
EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.004 · newest: 0.004 · change: 0.000
Affected products
- Linux — versions 1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2, 2.6.12, 0
- Linux Kernel — versions 2.6.12, 7.1
Weakness classification (CWE)
References
Frequently asked questions
- What is CVE-2026-53246?
- CVE-2026-53246 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Linux, classified under Out-of-bounds Write. CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2026-06-25.
- How severe is CVE-2026-53246?
- Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.