CVE-2026-72242: Linux

High severity, CVSS 7.5. EPSS: 0.7% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days.

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: selinux: avoid sk_socket dereference in selinux_sctp_bind_connect() selinux_sctp_bind_connect() dereferences sk->sk_socket to pass a struct socket * to selinux_socket_bind() and selinux_socket_connect_helper(). However, when the hook is invoked from the ASCONF softirq path (sctp_process_asconf), there is no file reference guaranteeing that sk->sk_socket is non-NULL. The setsockopt callers (bindx, connectx, set_primary, sendmsg connect) hold a file reference and are not affected. Both selinux_socket_bind() and selinux_socket_connect_helper() immediately resolve sock->sk, never using the struct socket * for anything else. Refactor the inner logic into helpers that take a struct sock * directly so that selinux_sctp_bind_connect() never needs to touch sk->sk_socket at all.

Affected products

• Linux Linux: from 4.17, before 5.10.266 (fixed in 5.10.266); from 5.11, before 5.15.217 (fixed in 5.15.217); from 5.16, before 6.1.184 (fixed in 6.1.184); from 6.2, before 6.6.148 (fixed in 6.6.148); from 6.7, before 6.12.97 (fixed in 6.12.97); from 6.13, before 6.18.40 (fixed in 6.18.40); …

Published 2026-08-15. Last modified 2026-08-23.