Vulnerability in Linux

CVE-2026-74268

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: tcp: clear sock_ops cb flags before force-closing a child socket A child socket inherits the listener's bpf_sock_ops_cb_flags via sk_clone_lock(). If its setup fails in tcp_v4_syn_recv_sock() / tcp_v6_syn_recv_sock(), the child is freed through put_and_exit, where inet_csk_prepare_forced_close() drops the socket lock and tcp_done() runs without it. If BPF_SOCK_OPS_STATE_CB_FLAG was inherited, tcp_done() -> tcp_set_state() calls tcp_call_bpf(), which expects the lock and trips sock_owned_by_me(): WARNING: include/net/sock.h:1799 at tcp_set_state+0x433/0x550 RIP: 0010:tcp_set_state+0x433/0x550 include/net/sock.h:1799 Call Trace: <IRQ> tcp_done+0xba/0x250 net/ipv4/tcp.c:5095 tcp_v4_syn_recv_sock+0x850/0xa50 net/ipv4/tcp_ipv4.c:1787 tcp_check_req+0xf30/0x1360 net/ipv4/tcp_minisocks.c:926 tcp_v4_rcv+0x1047/0x1b50 net/ipv4/tcp_ipv4.c:2164 </IRQ> The child is freed before it is ever established, so it should run no sock_ops callback. Clear its cb flags in inet_csk_prepare_for_destroy_sock(), the common point for the IPv4, IPv6 and chtls forced-close paths and for the MPTCP ->syn_recv_sock() failure path (dispose_child), which reaches tcp_done() on a child that was never established too.

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: 0.008 (53.3th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 53rd percentile — 53.3% 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-2026-74268: held from 0.006 to 0.008.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.006 · newest: 0.008 · change: +0.002

Affected products

  • Linux — versions 7.2-rc1, d44874910a26f3a8f81edf873a2473363f07f660, 4.16

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-74268?
CVE-2026-74268 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Linux. CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2026-08-15.
How severe is CVE-2026-74268?
Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.