CVE-2026-43016
Analyzed Analyzed - Analysis Complete
Use-After-Free in Linux Kernel BPF sockmap

Publication date: 2026-05-01

Last updated on: 2026-05-07

Assigner: kernel.org

Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: bpf: sockmap: Fix use-after-free of sk->sk_socket in sk_psock_verdict_data_ready(). syzbot reported use-after-free of AF_UNIX socket's sk->sk_socket in sk_psock_verdict_data_ready(). [0] In unix_stream_sendmsg(), the peer socket's ->sk_data_ready() is called after dropping its unix_state_lock(). Although the sender socket holds the peer's refcount, it does not prevent the peer's sock_orphan(), and the peer's sk_socket might be freed after one RCU grace period. Let's fetch the peer's sk->sk_socket and sk->sk_socket->ops under RCU in sk_psock_verdict_data_ready(). [0]: BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in sk_psock_verdict_data_ready+0xec/0x590 net/core/skmsg.c:1278 Read of size 8 at addr ffff8880594da860 by task syz.4.1842/11013 CPU: 1 UID: 0 PID: 11013 Comm: syz.4.1842 Not tainted syzkaller #0 PREEMPT(full) Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 02/12/2026 Call Trace: <TASK> dump_stack_lvl+0xe8/0x150 lib/dump_stack.c:120 print_address_description mm/kasan/report.c:378 [inline] print_report+0xba/0x230 mm/kasan/report.c:482 kasan_report+0x117/0x150 mm/kasan/report.c:595 sk_psock_verdict_data_ready+0xec/0x590 net/core/skmsg.c:1278 unix_stream_sendmsg+0x8a3/0xe80 net/unix/af_unix.c:2482 sock_sendmsg_nosec net/socket.c:721 [inline] __sock_sendmsg net/socket.c:736 [inline] ____sys_sendmsg+0x972/0x9f0 net/socket.c:2585 ___sys_sendmsg+0x2a5/0x360 net/socket.c:2639 __sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2671 [inline] __do_sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2676 [inline] __se_sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2674 [inline] __x64_sys_sendmsg+0x1bd/0x2a0 net/socket.c:2674 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:63 [inline] do_syscall_64+0x14d/0xf80 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:94 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f RIP: 0033:0x7facf899c819 Code: ff c3 66 2e 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 00 0f 1f 44 00 00 48 89 f8 48 89 f7 48 89 d6 48 89 ca 4d 89 c2 4d 89 c8 4c 8b 4c 24 08 0f 05 <48> 3d 01 f0 ff ff 73 01 c3 48 c7 c1 e8 ff ff ff f7 d8 64 89 01 48 RSP: 002b:00007facf9827028 EFLAGS: 00000246 ORIG_RAX: 000000000000002e RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 00007facf8c15fa0 RCX: 00007facf899c819 RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 0000200000000500 RDI: 0000000000000004 RBP: 00007facf8a32c91 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 0000000000000000 R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000246 R12: 0000000000000000 R13: 00007facf8c16038 R14: 00007facf8c15fa0 R15: 00007ffd41b01c78 </TASK> Allocated by task 11013: kasan_save_stack mm/kasan/common.c:57 [inline] kasan_save_track+0x3e/0x80 mm/kasan/common.c:78 unpoison_slab_object mm/kasan/common.c:340 [inline] __kasan_slab_alloc+0x6c/0x80 mm/kasan/common.c:366 kasan_slab_alloc include/linux/kasan.h:253 [inline] slab_post_alloc_hook mm/slub.c:4538 [inline] slab_alloc_node mm/slub.c:4866 [inline] kmem_cache_alloc_lru_noprof+0x2b8/0x640 mm/slub.c:4885 sock_alloc_inode+0x28/0xc0 net/socket.c:316 alloc_inode+0x6a/0x1b0 fs/inode.c:347 new_inode_pseudo include/linux/fs.h:3003 [inline] sock_alloc net/socket.c:631 [inline] __sock_create+0x12d/0x9d0 net/socket.c:1562 sock_create net/socket.c:1656 [inline] __sys_socketpair+0x1c4/0x560 net/socket.c:1803 __do_sys_socketpair net/socket.c:1856 [inline] __se_sys_socketpair net/socket.c:1853 [inline] __x64_sys_socketpair+0x9b/0xb0 net/socket.c:1853 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:63 [inline] do_syscall_64+0x14d/0xf80 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:94 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f Freed by task 15: kasan_save_stack mm/kasan/common.c:57 [inline] kasan_save_track+0x3e/0x80 mm/kasan/common.c:78 kasan_save_free_info+0x46/0x50 mm/kasan/generic.c:584 poison_slab_object mm/kasan/common.c:253 [inline] __kasan_slab_free+0x5c/0x80 mm/kasan/common.c:285 kasan_slab_free include/linux/kasan.h:235 [inline] slab_free_hook mm/slub.c:2685 [inline] slab_free mm/slub.c:6165 [inline] kmem_cache_free+0x187/0x630 mm/slub.c:6295 rcu_do_batch kernel/rcu/tree.c: ---truncated---
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Meta Information
Published
2026-05-01
Last Modified
2026-05-07
Generated
2026-05-27
AI Q&A
2026-05-01
EPSS Evaluated
2026-05-26
NVD
CVE-2026-43016
EUVD
EUVD-2026-26615
Affected Vendors & Products
Showing 10 associated CPEs
Vendor Product Version / Range
linux linux_kernel 7.0
linux linux_kernel 7.0
linux linux_kernel 7.0
linux linux_kernel 7.0
linux linux_kernel 7.0
linux linux_kernel 7.0
linux linux_kernel From 6.13 (inc) to 6.18.22 (exc)
linux linux_kernel From 6.19 (inc) to 6.19.12 (exc)
linux linux_kernel From 6.7 (inc) to 6.12.81 (exc)
linux linux_kernel From 5.15 (inc) to 6.6.134 (exc)
Helpful Resources
Exploitability
CWE
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KEV
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CWE ID Description
CWE-416 The product reuses or references memory after it has been freed. At some point afterward, the memory may be allocated again and saved in another pointer, while the original pointer references a location somewhere within the new allocation. Any operations using the original pointer are no longer valid because the memory "belongs" to the code that operates on the new pointer.
Attack-Flow Graph
AI Powered Q&A
Can you explain this vulnerability to me?

This vulnerability is a use-after-free issue in the Linux kernel's BPF sockmap implementation. Specifically, it occurs in the function sk_psock_verdict_data_ready(), where the code accesses a socket structure (sk->sk_socket) after it has been freed. The problem arises because the peer socket's sk_socket might be freed after one RCU grace period, but the code does not properly prevent this from happening before accessing it.

The issue was reported by syzbot and involves the AF_UNIX socket's sk_socket being used after it has been freed, which can lead to memory corruption or kernel crashes.


How can this vulnerability impact me? :

This use-after-free vulnerability can lead to instability in the Linux kernel, including potential kernel crashes or memory corruption. Such issues can cause denial of service by crashing the system or may be exploitable by attackers to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges, depending on the context and exploitability.


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