CVE-2026-74752
CRITICAL 9.8In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: sctp: validate cookie AUTH state before use When cookie authentication is disabled, COOKIE_ECHO restores fixed-size AUTH fields directly from peer-controlled cookie bytes. A forged RANDOM length, HMAC list, or CHUNKS list can then reach association consumers with lengths or identifiers that were never validated against the local backing arrays. A forged RANDOM length can cause out-of-bounds reads during key-vector construction. A forged HMAC identifier also caused a 32-byte write past a zero-length AUTH chunk, providing a primitive for a local privilege escalation chain. Validate the cookie's RANDOM, HMACS, and CHUNKS parameters at the cookie trust boundary before copying them into the association. Reject invalid types, malformed lengths, unsupported HMAC identifiers, HMAC lists without SHA1, and forbidden chunk ids.
Severe if exploited (CVSS 9.8), but no known exploitation and low modeled probability. Patch on a normal cadence.
Exploitation likelihood
0.4%chance of exploitation in 30 days · 36th percentile
Impact if exploited
9.8CVSS 3.1 · CRITICAL
- ConfidentialityHigh
- IntegrityHigh
- AvailabilityHigh
What an attacker needs
- ✓Access: Reachable over the network — no local access needed
- ✓Privileges: No account or privileges required
- ✓User interaction: No user interaction needed
- ✓Complexity: No special conditions — reliably repeatable
✓ lowers the bar for an attacker · ⚠ raises it
Proof of concept & exploit code
- github-search Search GitHub for public PoC repos
Test against your own equipment
curl -s https://vulnpedia.com/cve/CVE-2026-74752/poc.jsonMachine-readable PoC index for this CVE (for automation).Listed for defensive triage, patch verification, and authorized testing on systems you own. Machine-readable: /cve/CVE-2026-74752/poc.json
Weakness (CWE)
Not classified.
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
All CVSS metrics
- CRITICAL 9.8 v3.1 · CNA Primary
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - CRITICAL 9.8 v3.1 · NVD Secondary
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H