In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: sctp: fix use-after-free of cached ASCONF chunk addip_last_asconf caches the outstanding outbound ASCONF chunk

Overview

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

sctp: fix use-after-free of cached ASCONF chunk

addip_last_asconf caches the outstanding outbound ASCONF chunk. The normal ASCONF-ACK completion path releases the chunk and clears the pointer.

However, sctp_asconf_queue_teardown() releases the cached chunk without clearing addip_last_asconf. During peer restart handling, sctp_sf_do_dupcook_a() queues SCTP_CMD_PURGE_ASCONF_QUEUE, which invokes sctp_asconf_queue_teardown() while the association remains alive and leaves the pointer dangling.

A delayed authenticated ASCONF-ACK can then reach sctp_sf_do_asconf_ack(), which accesses the stale chunk and passes it to sctp_process_asconf_ack(), causing a use-after-free and a second release.

Clearing the pointer exposes a race with T4 expiry. Peer restart handling queues the timer stop before the purge, but SCTP_CMD_TIMER_STOP uses timer_delete(), which does not wait for a callback already running on another CPU. Such a callback can reach sctp_sf_t4_timer_expire() after the purge and dereference NULL.

Clear addip_last_asconf after releasing the cached chunk, and make sctp_sf_t4_timer_expire() consume a stale T4 expiry if no outstanding ASCONF remains.

Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.