[PATCH net v2] sctp: hold transport reference across connect wait

From: Seung Min Shin

Date: Sun Oct 11 2026 - 12:28:23 EST


sctp_sendmsg_to_asoc() selects a transport before waiting for a new
interleaved association to become established. sctp_wait_for_connect()
drops the socket lock while sleeping.

While the lock is dropped, backlog processing can handle a COOKIE ACK and
an ASCONF DEL-IP that removes the selected transport. sctp_assoc_rm_peer()
then marks the transport dead and drops its association-owned reference.
The transport can be freed through RCU before the send path resumes.

After the wait, the stale pointer is assigned to newly created DATA or
I-DATA chunks and later dereferenced by sctp_outq_select_transport().

Hold a reference to the selected transport across
sctp_wait_for_connect(). After the socket lock is reacquired, abort the
send if the transport was marked dead. Callers without a selected
transport pass NULL and retain their existing behavior.

Cc: stable@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Fixes: 668c9beb9020 ("sctp: implement assign_number for sctp_stream_interleave")
Acked-by: Xin Long <lucien.xin@xxxxxxxxx>
Assisted-by: LLM
Signed-off-by: Seung Min Shin <guncraft2000@xxxxxxxxx>
---

Notes (sctp-connect-wait-v2):
v2:
- Rebase onto current net/main after commit 4f1da630d13de.
- Preserve the RCV_SHUTDOWN check added by that commit.
- Add the stable list now that the issue is public.

v1: https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260928152132.3705137-1-guncraft2000@xxxxxxxxx/

Tested on net/main af32da41b032 with CONFIG_KASAN=y on x86-64.

Before the patch, the reproducer triggered a KASAN slab-use-after-free in
sctp_outq_select_transport() on its first run. After the patch, 64 attempts
completed without a KASAN, refcount, BUG, WARNING, oops, or panic report. A
diagnostic run returned ESRCH in all 64 attempts and left the association in
SCTP_ESTABLISHED state. A normal interleaved connect/send smoke test passed.

net/sctp/socket.c | 26 +++++++++++++++++++-------
1 file changed, 19 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)

diff --git a/net/sctp/socket.c b/net/sctp/socket.c
index e35692dd8d30..189b89a40d46 100644
--- a/net/sctp/socket.c
+++ b/net/sctp/socket.c
@@ -75,7 +75,8 @@ static int sctp_wait_for_sndbuf(struct sctp_association *asoc,
struct sctp_transport *transport,
long *timeo_p, size_t msg_len);
static int sctp_wait_for_packet(struct sock *sk, int *err, long *timeo_p);
-static int sctp_wait_for_connect(struct sctp_association *, long *timeo_p);
+static int sctp_wait_for_connect(struct sctp_association *,
+ struct sctp_transport *, long *timeo_p);
static int sctp_wait_for_accept(struct sock *sk, long timeo);
static void sctp_wait_for_close(struct sock *sk, long timeo);
static void sctp_destruct_sock(struct sock *sk);
@@ -1245,7 +1246,7 @@ static int __sctp_connect(struct sock *sk, struct sockaddr *kaddrs,
*assoc_id = asoc->assoc_id;

timeo = sock_sndtimeo(sk, flags & O_NONBLOCK);
- return sctp_wait_for_connect(asoc, &timeo);
+ return sctp_wait_for_connect(asoc, NULL, &timeo);

out_free:
pr_debug("%s: took out_free path with asoc:%p kaddrs:%p err:%d\n",
@@ -1843,7 +1844,7 @@ static int sctp_sendmsg_to_asoc(struct sctp_association *asoc,

if (asoc->ep->intl_enable) {
timeo = sock_sndtimeo(sk, 0);
- err = sctp_wait_for_connect(asoc, &timeo);
+ err = sctp_wait_for_connect(asoc, transport, &timeo);
if (err || sk->sk_shutdown & RCV_SHUTDOWN) {
err = -ESRCH;
goto err;
@@ -1881,7 +1882,7 @@ static int sctp_sendmsg_to_asoc(struct sctp_association *asoc,

if (unlikely(wait_connect)) {
timeo = sock_sndtimeo(sk, msg->msg_flags & MSG_DONTWAIT);
- sctp_wait_for_connect(asoc, &timeo);
+ sctp_wait_for_connect(asoc, NULL, &timeo);
}

err = msg_len;
@@ -9381,7 +9382,9 @@ static bool sctp_writeable(const struct sock *sk)
/* Wait for an association to go into ESTABLISHED state. If timeout is 0,
* returns immediately with EINPROGRESS.
*/
-static int sctp_wait_for_connect(struct sctp_association *asoc, long *timeo_p)
+static int sctp_wait_for_connect(struct sctp_association *asoc,
+ struct sctp_transport *transport,
+ long *timeo_p)
{
struct sock *sk = asoc->base.sk;
int err = 0;
@@ -9390,12 +9393,16 @@ static int sctp_wait_for_connect(struct sctp_association *asoc, long *timeo_p)

pr_debug("%s: asoc:%p, timeo:%ld\n", __func__, asoc, *timeo_p);

- /* Increment the association's refcnt. */
+ /* Hold references while the socket lock is dropped. */
+ if (transport)
+ sctp_transport_hold(transport);
sctp_association_hold(asoc);

for (;;) {
prepare_to_wait_exclusive(&asoc->wait, &wait,
TASK_INTERRUPTIBLE);
+ if (transport && transport->dead)
+ goto do_transport_dead;
if (!*timeo_p)
goto do_nonblock;
if (sk->sk_shutdown & RCV_SHUTDOWN)
@@ -9424,7 +9431,8 @@ static int sctp_wait_for_connect(struct sctp_association *asoc, long *timeo_p)
out:
finish_wait(&asoc->wait, &wait);

- /* Release the association's refcnt. */
+ if (transport)
+ sctp_transport_put(transport);
sctp_association_put(asoc);

return err;
@@ -9443,6 +9451,10 @@ static int sctp_wait_for_connect(struct sctp_association *asoc, long *timeo_p)
do_nonblock:
err = -EINPROGRESS;
goto out;
+
+do_transport_dead:
+ err = -EAGAIN;
+ goto out;
}

static int sctp_wait_for_accept(struct sock *sk, long timeo)

base-commit: af32da41b0327b9c6a37856ba82b6760d6c8d10e
--
2.34.1