CVE-2026-68118

tcp: challenge ACK for non-exact RST in SYN-RECEIVED

HIGH
8.2
CVSS Score
Published: August 10, 2026 at 11:58 AM UTC
Updated: October 30, 2026 at 01:19 PM UTC
1 product affected across 1 vendorLinux Kernel

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Severity
HIGH8.2
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.4%
SSVC
No known exploit

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: tcp: challenge ACK for non-exact RST in SYN-RECEIVED The SYN-RECEIVED request-socket path in tcp_check_req() accepts an in-window RST without requiring SEG.SEQ to exactly match RCV.NXT. A non-exact RST therefore removes the request instead of eliciting a challenge ACK. RFC 9293 section 3.10.7.4 applies the RFC 5961 reset check in SYN-RECEIVED: an exact RST resets the connection, while a non-exact in-window RST must trigger a challenge ACK and be dropped. Apply that check before the ACK-field validation, following the RFC sequence-number, RST, then ACK processing order. Factor the per-netns challenge ACK quota out of tcp_send_challenge_ack() so request sockets can share it. Use the request socket's send_ack() callback and its own out-of-window ACK timestamp to send and rate-limit the response.

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

282f23c6ee343126156dd41218b22ece96d747e33.0.583.2.373.4.253.634fb350281ced2a72707a5c0064f69992d440edb61f69dc4e40e41b0018f00fa4aeb23d3239556fb86791bbfe5ed7b275be040cfeff049a1624af1b7
Vendor states this is fixed in 0fe4636665d14a258de70b4f3e8248e6d42038f1 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 22cec809b048495310f206d9abbcdbbfbdce3ae3 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 234f9ffbd9b2c1b24ec67200ea3cff07401bec48 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 8b0a3a094f4cae2fb92e4d08d4eef7246a9d9c49 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in a28c4fcbf774e23b4779cae468e3497a5ad1f4a1 (fixed)
Affected range stops below 3.1, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 3.3, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 3.5, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Vendor states this is fixed in 3.6 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.12.105 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.18.42 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.6.153 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 7.1.6 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 7.2 (unaffected)

Remediation

No guide yet

No remediation guidance has been written for this CVE yet, and no fixed version or vendor advisory is recorded against it.

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCNo known exploitAutomatablePartial impact

SSVC signals action urgency (what to patch first), separate from CVSS which measures severity.

CVSS

8.2HIGHLinux
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusRECEIVED
CWE
CWE-20

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