Cloudanix VulnDB

CVE-2026-23321

Medium · 5.5

CVSS

5.5

EPSS

0.1%

Published

Mar 25, 2026

CISA due date

—

Cloudanix analysis

Schedule a fix SSVC: Track

A Linux networking bug could let someone with local access trigger warnings that might make systems using advanced connection features less stable.

Exploitation
Local Privilege
Attacker needs
Low Privilege
Complexity
Low
Impact
Denial Of Service
Component
OS kernel
Class
Improper Input Validation
Remediation
Upgrade
Effort
Medium
Patch risk
Low

What it actually does

Improper handling in the MPTCP in-kernel path manager fails to correctly track local_addr_used when an endpoint with both signal and subflow flags is removed after the subflow limit has been set to zero, resulting in a kernel warning.

Why it matters to the business

Linux systems relying on multipath TCP may experience kernel warnings or instability under specific local configuration sequences, potentially affecting network reliability on servers or devices.

How an attack unfolds

A local attacker uses netlink commands to set the MPTCP subflow limit to zero, creates an endpoint marked for both signal and subflow, initiates a connection that triggers an ADD_ADDR, then removes the endpoint to hit the assertion failure in the path manager.

How to fix it

Apply the upstream kernel commit that ensures signal+subflow endpoints are always marked used; rebuild and deploy updated kernels across affected Linux distributions.

How to confirm the fix worked

Reproduce the syzkaller sequence in a test environment and confirm absence of the msk->pm.local_addr_used == 0 warning in dmesg or kernel logs after the patch.

Typical attack path

  1. Use netlink to set MPTCP subflows limit to zero
  2. Create an MPTCP endpoint with both signal and subflow flags
  3. Establish an MPTCP connection from a secondary address
  4. Issue netlink command to remove the MPTCP endpoint

How to detect it

Search kernel logs and dmesg for strings referencing mptcp_pm_nl_del_addr_doit, __mark_subflow_endp_available, or local_addr_used == 0.

What your security team should do

  • Prioritize kernel updates on systems with MPTCP enabled
  • Restrict unprivileged access to MPTCP netlink interfaces where feasible
  • Monitor kernel logs for MPTCP path manager warnings

The record

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mptcp: pm: in-kernel: always mark signal+subflow endp as used Syzkaller managed to find a combination of actions that was generating this warning: msk->pm.local_addr_used == 0 WARNING: net/mptcp/pm_kernel.c:1071 at __mark_subflow_endp_available net/mptcp/pm_kernel.c:1071 [inline], CPU#1: syz.2.17/961 WARNING: net/mptcp/pm_kernel.c:1071 at mptcp_nl_remove_subflow_and_signal_addr net/mptcp/pm_kernel.c:1103 [inline], CPU#1: syz.2.17/961 WARNING: net/mptcp/pm_kernel.c:1071 at mptcp_pm_nl_del_addr_doit+0x81d/0x8f0 net/mptcp/pm_kernel.c:1210, CPU#1: syz.2.17/961 Modules linked in: CPU: 1 UID: 0 PID: 961 Comm: syz.2.17 Not tainted 6.19.0-08368-gfafda3b4b06b #22 PREEMPT(full) Hardware name: QEMU Ubuntu 25.10 PC v2 (i440FX + PIIX, + 10.1 machine, 1996), BIOS 1.17.0-debian-1.17.0-1build1 04/01/2014 RIP: 0010:__mark_subflow_endp_available net/mptcp/pm_kernel.c:1071 [inline] RIP: 0010:mptcp_nl_remove_subflow_and_signal_addr net/mptcp/pm_kernel.c:1103 [inline] RIP: 0010:mptcp_pm_nl_del_addr_doit+0x81d/0x8f0 net/mptcp/pm_kernel.c:1210 Code: 89 c5 e8 46 30 6f fe e9 21 fd ff ff 49 83 ed 80 e8 38 30 6f fe 4c 89 ef be 03 00 00 00 e8 db 49 df fe eb ac e8 24 30 6f fe 90 <0f> 0b 90 e9 1d ff ff ff e8 16 30 6f fe eb 05 e8 0f 30 6f fe e8 9a RSP: 0018:ffffc90001663880 EFLAGS: 00010293 RAX: ffffffff82de1a6c RBX: 0000000000000000 RCX: ffff88800722b500 RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 0000000000000000 RDI: 0000000000000000 RBP: ffff8880158b22d0 R08: 0000000000010425 R09: ffffffffffffffff R10: ffffffff82de18ba R11: 0000000000000000 R12: ffff88800641a640 R13: ffff8880158b1880 R14: ffff88801ec3c900 R15: ffff88800641a650 FS: 00005555722c3500(0000) GS:ffff8880f909d000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 00007f66346e0f60 CR3: 000000001607c000 CR4: 0000000000350ef0 Call Trace: <TASK> genl_family_rcv_msg_doit+0x117/0x180 net/netlink/genetlink.c:1115 genl_family_rcv_msg net/netlink/genetlink.c:1195 [inline] genl_rcv_msg+0x3a8/0x3f0 net/netlink/genetlink.c:1210 netlink_rcv_skb+0x16d/0x240 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:2550 genl_rcv+0x28/0x40 net/netlink/genetlink.c:1219 netlink_unicast_kernel net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1318 [inline] netlink_unicast+0x3e9/0x4c0 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1344 netlink_sendmsg+0x4aa/0x5b0 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1894 sock_sendmsg_nosec net/socket.c:727 [inline] __sock_sendmsg+0xc9/0xf0 net/socket.c:742 ____sys_sendmsg+0x272/0x3b0 net/socket.c:2592 ___sys_sendmsg+0x2de/0x320 net/socket.c:2646 __sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2678 [inline] __do_sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2683 [inline] __se_sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2681 [inline] __x64_sys_sendmsg+0x110/0x1a0 net/socket.c:2681 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:63 [inline] do_syscall_64+0x143/0x440 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:94 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f RIP: 0033:0x7f66346f826d Code: ff c3 66 2e 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 00 90 f3 0f 1e fa 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:00007ffc83d8bdc8 EFLAGS: 00000246 ORIG_RAX: 000000000000002e RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 00007f6634985fa0 RCX: 00007f66346f826d RDX: 00000000040000b0 RSI: 0000200000000740 RDI: 0000000000000007 RBP: 0000000000000000 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 0000000000000000 R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000246 R12: 00007f6634985fa8 R13: 00007f6634985fac R14: 0000000000000000 R15: 0000000000001770 </TASK> The actions that caused that seem to be: - Set the MPTCP subflows limit to 0 - Create an MPTCP endpoint with both the 'signal' and 'subflow' flags - Create a new MPTCP connection from a different address: an ADD_ADDR linked to the MPTCP endpoint will be sent ('signal' flag), but no subflows is initiated ('subflow' flag) - Remove the MPTCP endpoint ---truncated---

Affected packages

Ecosystem Package Introduced Fixed