Vulnerability in Linux

CVE-2026-68300

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: sctp: auth: verify auth requirement when auth_chunk is NULL sctp_auth_chunk_verify() returns true unconditionally when chunk->auth_chunk is NULL, silently skipping authentication. This is incorrect when: 1. skb_clone() failed in the BH receive path, leaving auth_chunk NULL. In sctp_endpoint_bh_rcv() asoc is NULL for new connections, so the early sctp_auth_recv_cid() check cannot catch this. 2. No AUTH chunk precedes COOKIE-ECHO, so skb_clone() is never called and auth_chunk remains NULL. Fix by checking sctp_auth_recv_cid() when auth_chunk is NULL: if authentication is required, return false to drop the chunk; otherwise continue normally.

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: 0.006 (47.2th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 47th percentile — 47.2% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS trend (30 days)EPSS over the last 30 days for CVE-2026-68300: held from 0.006 to 0.006.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.006 · newest: 0.006 · change: 0.000

Affected products

  • Linux — versions 7.1.6, bbd0d59809f923ea2b540cbd781b32110e249f6e, 7.2

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-68300?
CVE-2026-68300 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Linux. CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2026-08-10.
How severe is CVE-2026-68300?
Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.