Bug 2555030 (CVE-2026-98586)

Summary: CVE-2026-98586 kernel: sctp: hold asoc or transport before mod_timer() in timer handlers
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
Status: NEW --- QA Contact:
Severity: medium Docs Contact:
Priority: medium    
Version: unspecifiedCC: akhatavk, aos-team-art-private, asdas, dpaolell, jdelft, jupierce, lgarciaa, mbiarnes, ppalepu, ppostler, prdhamdh, rhel-process-autobot, sghai, sidsharm, suppawar, vlaad, watson-tool-maintainers
Target Milestone: ---Keywords: Security
Target Release: ---   
Hardware: All   
OS: Linux   
Whiteboard:
Fixed In Version: Doc Type: ---
Doc Text:
A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) subsystem. This vulnerability can lead to a Denial of Service (DoS) through a kernel crash. A race condition occurs between timer rearming and cleanup operations because the system modifies a timer before properly acquiring a reference to the associated transport object. An attacker able to generate SCTP traffic can trigger this timing window, causing a reference count underflow on an already freed memory object and resulting in system instability.
 Story Points: ---
Clone Of: Environment:
Last Closed: Type: ---
Regression: --- Mount Type: ---
Documentation: --- CRM:
Verified Versions: Category: ---
oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team: --- Target Upstream Version:
Embargoed:

Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-10-18 15:40:18 UTC 
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

sctp: hold asoc or transport before mod_timer() in timer handlers

Take the association or transport reference before rearming a timer in the
timer handlers.

The existing code calls mod_timer() before taking the reference needed by
the rearmed timer without holding the sock lock. This creates a race with
timer cleanup: if the timer is deleted after mod_timer() returns but before
the reference is taken, the cleanup path can drop the timer's reference and
destroy the transport or association. The timer handler then takes a
reference on the already freed object and eventually drops it, causing a
refcount underflow.

Hold the object before mod_timer() and drop the reference if mod_timer()
reports that the timer was already pending in timer handlers. Apply the
same ordering to the proto-unreachable path, which can rearm a transport
timer outside the timer handlers without holding the sock lock.