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Medium · 5.5 CVE-2024-26676 EUVD-2024-23938GHSA-c8hq-5hxw-3w26

af_unix: Call kfree_skb() for dead unix_(sk)->oob_skb in GC.

Published Apr 2, 2024 · Updated May 23, 2026 · Assigned by Linux

Vendor: Linux Product: Linux Package: linux Package: linux Package: linux-allwinner-5.19 Package: linux-aws Package: linux-aws-5.0 Package: linux-aws-5.11 Package: linux-aws-5.13 Package: linux-aws-5.15 Package: linux-aws-5.19 Package: linux-aws-5.3 Package: linux-aws-5.8 Package: linux-aws-6.2 Package: linux-aws-6.5 Package: linux-aws-fips Package: linux-azure Package: linux-azure-5.11 Package: linux-azure-5.13 Package: linux-azure-5.15 Package: linux-azure-5.19 Package: linux-azure-5.3 Package: linux-azure-5.8 Package: linux-azure-6.2 Package: linux-azure-6.5 Package: linux-azure-edge Package: linux-azure-fde Package: linux-azure-fde-5.19 Package: linux-azure-fde-6.2 Package: linux-azure-fips Package: linux-bluefield Package: linux-fips Package: linux-gcp Package: linux-gcp-5.11 Package: linux-gcp-5.13 Package: linux-gcp-5.15 Package: linux-gcp-5.19 Package: linux-gcp-5.3 Package: linux-gcp-5.8 Package: linux-gcp-6.2 Package: linux-gcp-6.5 Package: linux-gcp-fips Package: linux-gke Package: linux-gke-4.15 Package: linux-gke-5.15 Package: linux-gke-5.4 Package: linux-gkeop Package: linux-gkeop-5.15 Package: linux-gkeop-5.4 Package: linux-hwe Package: linux-hwe-5.11 Package: linux-hwe-5.13 Package: linux-hwe-5.15 Package: linux-hwe-5.19 Package: linux-hwe-5.8 Package: linux-hwe-6.2 Package: linux-hwe-6.5 Package: linux-hwe-edge Package: linux-ibm Package: linux-ibm-5.15 Package: linux-intel-5.13 Package: linux-intel-iot-realtime Package: linux-intel-iotg Package: linux-intel-iotg-5.15 Package: linux-kvm Package: linux-lowlatency Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-5.15 Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-5.19 Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.2 Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.5 Package: linux-nvidia Package: linux-nvidia-6.2 Package: linux-nvidia-6.5 Package: linux-nvidia-tegra Package: linux-nvidia-tegra-5.15 Package: linux-nvidia-tegra-igx Package: linux-oem Package: linux-oem-5.10 Package: linux-oem-5.13 Package: linux-oem-5.14 Package: linux-oem-5.17 Package: linux-oem-5.6 Package: linux-oem-6.0 Package: linux-oem-6.1 Package: linux-oem-6.5 Package: linux-oracle Package: linux-oracle-5.0 Package: linux-oracle-5.11 Package: linux-oracle-5.13 Package: linux-oracle-5.15 Package: linux-oracle-5.3 Package: linux-oracle-5.8 Package: linux-oracle-6.5 Package: linux-raspi Package: linux-raspi-realtime Package: linux-raspi2 Package: linux-realtime Package: linux-riscv Package: linux-riscv-5.11 Package: linux-riscv-5.15 Package: linux-riscv-5.19 Package: linux-riscv-5.8 Package: linux-riscv-6.5 Package: linux-starfive-5.19 Package: linux-starfive-6.2 Package: linux-starfive-6.5 Package: linux-vmware Package: linux-xilinx-zynqmp Platform: Linux Ecosystem: Debian Ecosystem: Ubuntu

Description

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

af_unix: Call kfree_skb() for dead unix_(sk)->oob_skb in GC.

syzbot reported a warning [0] in __unix_gc() with a repro, which
creates a socketpair and sends one socket's fd to itself using the
peer.

socketpair(AF_UNIX, SOCK_STREAM, 0, [3, 4]) = 0
sendmsg(4, {msg_name=NULL, msg_namelen=0, msg_iov=[{iov_base="\360", iov_len=1}],
msg_iovlen=1, msg_control=[{cmsg_len=20, cmsg_level=SOL_SOCKET,
cmsg_type=SCM_RIGHTS, cmsg_data=[3]}],
msg_controllen=24, msg_flags=0}, MSG_OOB|MSG_PROBE|MSG_DONTWAIT|MSG_ZEROCOPY) = 1

This forms a self-cyclic reference that GC should finally untangle
but does not due to lack of MSG_OOB handling, resulting in memory
leak.

Recently, commit 11498715f266 ("af_unix: Remove io_uring code for
GC.") removed io_uring's dead code in GC and revealed the problem.

The code was executed at the final stage of GC and unconditionally
moved all GC candidates from gc_candidates to gc_inflight_list.
That papered over the reported problem by always making the following
WARN_ON_ONCE(!list_empty(&gc_candidates)) false.

The problem has been there since commit 2aab4b969002 ("af_unix: fix
struct pid leaks in OOB support") added full scm support for MSG_OOB
while fixing another bug.

To fix this problem, we must call kfree_skb() for unix_sk(sk)->oob_skb
if the socket still exists in gc_candidates after purging collected skb.

Then, we need to set NULL to oob_skb before calling kfree_skb() because
it calls last fput() and triggers unix_release_sock(), where we call
duplicate kfree_skb(u->oob_skb) if not NULL.

Note that the leaked socket remained being linked to a global list, so
kmemleak also could not detect it. We need to check /proc/net/protocol
to notice the unfreed socket.

[0]:
WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 2863 at net/unix/garbage.c:345 __unix_gc+0xc74/0xe80 net/unix/garbage.c:345
Modules linked in:
CPU: 0 PID: 2863 Comm: kworker/u4:11 Not tainted 6.8.0-rc1-syzkaller-00583-g1701940b1a02 #0
Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 01/25/2024
Workqueue: events_unbound __unix_gc
RIP: 0010:__unix_gc+0xc74/0xe80 net/unix/garbage.c:345
Code: 8b 5c 24 50 e9 86 f8 ff ff e8 f8 e4 22 f8 31 d2 48 c7 c6 30 6a 69 89 4c 89 ef e8 97 ef ff ff e9 80 f9 ff ff e8 dd e4 22 f8 90 <0f> 0b 90 e9 7b fd ff ff 48 89 df e8 5c e7 7c f8 e9 d3 f8 ff ff e8
RSP: 0018:ffffc9000b03fba0 EFLAGS: 00010293
RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: ffffc9000b03fc10 RCX: ffffffff816c493e
RDX: ffff88802c02d940 RSI: ffffffff896982f3 RDI: ffffc9000b03fb30
RBP: ffffc9000b03fce0 R08: 0000000000000001 R09: fffff52001607f66
R10: 0000000000000003 R11: 0000000000000002 R12: dffffc0000000000
R13: ffffc9000b03fc10 R14: ffffc9000b03fc10 R15: 0000000000000001
FS: 0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff8880b9400000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
CR2: 00005559c8677a60 CR3: 000000000d57a000 CR4: 00000000003506f0
DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000
DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400
Call Trace:
<TASK>
process_one_work+0x889/0x15e0 kernel/workqueue.c:2633
process_scheduled_works kernel/workqueue.c:2706 [inline]
worker_thread+0x8b9/0x12a0 kernel/workqueue.c:2787
kthread+0x2c6/0x3b0 kernel/kthread.c:388
ret_from_fork+0x45/0x80 arch/x86/kernel/process.c:147
ret_from_fork_asm+0x1b/0x30 arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:242
</TASK>

Affected products

VendorProductAffectedFixed
Linux Linux 5.15.103 – < 5.15.149, 6.1.20 – < 6.1.78, 6.2.7 – < 6.3, 6.3 5.15.149

Fixed in Linux distributions

Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.

ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Debian 14 linux 6.7.7-1 —
Debian 13 linux 6.7.7-1 —
Debian 12 linux 6.1.82-1 —
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu Nvidia-BlueField 22.04 LTS linux-bluefield 5.15.0-1043.45 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux +1 5.15.0-106.116 USN-6766-1
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-aws 5.15.0-1061.67 USN-6766-3
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-aws-6.5 6.5.0-1023.23~22.04.1 USN-6895-3
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-azure 5.15.0-1063.72 USN-6766-1
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-azure-6.5 6.5.0-1024.25~22.04.1 USN-6895-2
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-azure-fde 5.15.0-1063.72.1 USN-6766-1
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-gcp 5.15.0-1059.67 USN-6766-1
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-gcp-6.5 6.5.0-1024.26~22.04.1 USN-6895-2
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-gke +1 5.15.0-1058.63 USN-6766-1
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-gkeop 5.15.0-1044.51 USN-6766-1
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-hwe-6.5 6.5.0-44.44~22.04.1 USN-6900-1
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-ibm +1 5.15.0-1054.57 USN-6766-2, USN-6766-1
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-intel-iotg 5.15.0-1057.63 USN-6795-1
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.5 6.5.0-44.44.1~22.04.1 USN-6895-3
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-nvidia 5.15.0-1054.55 USN-6766-1
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-nvidia-6.5 6.5.0-1023.24 USN-6895-1
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-nvidia-tegra 5.15.0-1026.26 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-nvidia-tegra-igx 5.15.0-1015.15 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-oem-6.5 6.5.0-1027.28 USN-6895-4
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-oracle 5.15.0-1059.65 USN-6766-1
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-oracle-6.5 6.5.0-1026.26~22.04.1 USN-6895-3
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-riscv +22 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-starfive-6.5 6.5.0-1017.18~22.04.1 USN-6895-3
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-xilinx-zynqmp 5.15.0-1030.34 —
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-aws-5.15 5.15.0-1061.67~20.04.1 USN-6766-3
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-azure-5.15 5.15.0-1063.72~20.04.1 USN-6766-1
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-azure-fde-5.15 5.15.0-1063.72~20.04.1.1 USN-6766-1
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-gcp-5.15 5.15.0-1059.67~20.04.1 USN-6766-1
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-gke +26 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-gkeop-5.15 5.15.0-1044.51~20.04.1 USN-6766-1
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-hwe-5.15 +1 5.15.0-106.116~20.04.1 USN-6766-2, USN-6766-1
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-ibm-5.15 5.15.0-1054.57~20.04.1 USN-6766-1
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-intel-iotg-5.15 5.15.0-1058.64~20.04.1 USN-6828-1
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-nvidia-tegra-5.15 5.15.0-1027.27~20.04.1 —
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-oracle-5.15 5.15.0-1059.65~20.04.1 USN-6766-1
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-riscv-5.15 5.15.0-1057.61~20.04.1 —
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS linux-gcp +13 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 16.04 LTS linux-hwe-edge No fix yet —
Show 4 more (older releases, extended support, other products)
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu Pro Realtime 24.04 LTS linux-raspi-realtime 6.8.0-2001.1 —
Ubuntu Pro Realtime 22.04 LTS linux-intel-iot-realtime 5.15.0-1054.56 —
Ubuntu Pro Realtime 22.04 LTS linux-realtime 5.15.0-1062.70 —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 22.04 LTS linux-aws-fips 5.15.0-1061.67+fips1 —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 22.04 LTS linux-azure-fips 5.15.0-1063.72+fips1 —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 22.04 LTS linux-fips 5.15.0-106.116+fips1 —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 22.04 LTS linux-gcp-fips 5.15.0-1059.67+fips1 —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-preview 22.04 LTS linux-aws-fips +2 No fix yet —
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
SLES 15 SP6 kernel-64kb 6.4.0-150600.23.14.1 SUSE-SU-2024:2571-1
SLES 15 SP6 kernel-azure +1 6.4.0-150600.8.8.2 SUSE-SU-2024:2896-1
SLES 15 SP6 kernel-default-base 6.4.0-150600.23.14.2.150600.12.4.3 SUSE-SU-2024:2571-1
SLES 15 SP6 kernel-docs +5 6.4.0-150600.23.14.2 SUSE-SU-2024:2571-1
SLES 15 SP6 kernel-syms-azure 6.4.0-150600.8.8.1 SUSE-SU-2024:2896-1
Show 3 more (older releases, extended support, other products)
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
SLE Micro 6.0 kernel-default-base 6.4.0-17.1.1.51 SUSE-SU-2025:20008-1
SLE Micro 6.0 kernel-rt +1 6.4.0-9.1 SUSE-SU-2025:20028-1
SLE Micro 6.0 kernel-source +2 6.4.0-18.1 SUSE-SU-2025:20008-1
SLE Live Patching 15 SP6 kernel-default 6.4.0-150600.23.14.2 SUSE-SU-2024:2571-1
SLE Live Patching 15 SP6 kernel-livepatch-SLE15-SP6-RT_Update_1 1-150600.1.5.1 SUSE-SU-2024:2973-1
SLE Live Patching 15 SP6 kernel-livepatch-SLE15-SP6_Update_2 1-150600.13.3.2 SUSE-SU-2024:2571-1
SUSE Real Time Module 15 SP6 kernel-rt +3 6.4.0-150600.10.5.1 SUSE-SU-2024:2973-1
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
openSUSE Leap 15.6 dtb-aarch64 +1 6.4.0-150600.23.14.1 SUSE-SU-2024:2571-1
openSUSE Leap 15.6 kernel-azure +1 6.4.0-150600.8.8.2 SUSE-SU-2024:2896-1
openSUSE Leap 15.6 kernel-default-base 6.4.0-150600.23.14.2.150600.12.4.3 SUSE-SU-2024:2571-1
openSUSE Leap 15.6 kernel-docs +8 6.4.0-150600.23.14.2 SUSE-SU-2024:2571-1
openSUSE Leap 15.6 kernel-rt +3 6.4.0-150600.10.5.1 SUSE-SU-2024:2973-1
openSUSE Leap 15.6 kernel-syms-azure 6.4.0-150600.8.8.1 SUSE-SU-2024:2896-1

Amazon Linux

ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Amazon Linux 2023 kernel-livepatch-6.1.79-99.164 1.0-0.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2024-549
Amazon Linux 2023 perf +14 6.1.79-99.164.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2024-549

Advisories 17

References