# CVE-2024-26676: af_unix: Call kfree_skb() for dead unix_(sk)->oob_skb in GC.

> A memory leak in the Linux kernel's Unix socket garbage collector allows local attackers to exhaust system memory, causing denial of service.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 2 Apr 2024
- **Updated:** 23 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2024-26676, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-26676, GHSA-c8hq-5hxw-3w26, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-26676

## What is CVE-2024-26676?

CVE-2024-26676 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 2 Apr 2024. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official 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>

Weakness: CWE-401 (Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-26676?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-26676?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2024-26676 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-26676 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

- [CVE-2026-53266](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53266/): Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-6282](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-6282/): Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-0185](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-0185/): Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-2094](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-2094/): Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-53362](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53362/): Linux Kernel Unspecified (high 7.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2024-26676 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-26676 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 2 Apr 2024. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-26676 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux kernel. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-26676/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-26676/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-26676
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-26676
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-26676

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-26676/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.