# CVE-2024-26732: net: implement lockless setsockopt(SO_PEEK_OFF)

> A race condition in the Linux kernel's SO_PEEK_OFF socket option handling can cause a lockdep violation and potential system instability.

- **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:** 3 Apr 2024
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2024-26732, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-26732, GHSA-q4jh-g383-rjcg, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-26732

## What is CVE-2024-26732?

CVE-2024-26732 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 3 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:

net: implement lockless setsockopt(SO_PEEK_OFF)

syzbot reported a lockdep violation [1] involving af_unix
support of SO_PEEK_OFF.

Since SO_PEEK_OFF is inherently not thread safe (it uses a per-socket
sk_peek_off field), there is really no point to enforce a pointless
thread safety in the kernel.

After this patch :

- setsockopt(SO_PEEK_OFF) no longer acquires the socket lock.

- skb_consume_udp() no longer has to acquire the socket lock.

- af_unix no longer needs a special version of sk_set_peek_off(),
  because it does not lock u->iolock anymore.

As a followup, we could replace prot->set_peek_off to be a boolean
and avoid an indirect call, since we always use sk_set_peek_off().

[1]

WARNING: possible circular locking dependency detected
6.8.0-rc4-syzkaller-00267-g0f1dd5e91e2b #0 Not tainted

syz-executor.2/30025 is trying to acquire lock:
 ffff8880765e7d80 (&u->iolock){+.+.}-{3:3}, at: unix_set_peek_off+0x26/0xa0 net/unix/af_unix.c:789

but task is already holding lock:
 ffff8880765e7930 (sk_lock-AF_UNIX){+.+.}-{0:0}, at: lock_sock include/net/sock.h:1691 [inline]
 ffff8880765e7930 (sk_lock-AF_UNIX){+.+.}-{0:0}, at: sockopt_lock_sock net/core/sock.c:1060 [inline]
 ffff8880765e7930 (sk_lock-AF_UNIX){+.+.}-{0:0}, at: sk_setsockopt+0xe52/0x3360 net/core/sock.c:1193

which lock already depends on the new lock.

the existing dependency chain (in reverse order) is:

-> #1 (sk_lock-AF_UNIX){+.+.}-{0:0}:
        lock_acquire+0x1e3/0x530 kernel/locking/lockdep.c:5754
        lock_sock_nested+0x48/0x100 net/core/sock.c:3524
        lock_sock include/net/sock.h:1691 [inline]
        __unix_dgram_recvmsg+0x1275/0x12c0 net/unix/af_unix.c:2415
        sock_recvmsg_nosec+0x18e/0x1d0 net/socket.c:1046
        ____sys_recvmsg+0x3c0/0x470 net/socket.c:2801
        ___sys_recvmsg net/socket.c:2845 [inline]
        do_recvmmsg+0x474/0xae0 net/socket.c:2939
        __sys_recvmmsg net/socket.c:3018 [inline]
        __do_sys_recvmmsg net/socket.c:3041 [inline]
        __se_sys_recvmmsg net/socket.c:3034 [inline]
        __x64_sys_recvmmsg+0x199/0x250 net/socket.c:3034
       do_syscall_64+0xf9/0x240
       entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x6f/0x77

-> #0 (&u->iolock){+.+.}-{3:3}:
        check_prev_add kernel/locking/lockdep.c:3134 [inline]
        check_prevs_add kernel/locking/lockdep.c:3253 [inline]
        validate_chain+0x18ca/0x58e0 kernel/locking/lockdep.c:3869
        __lock_acquire+0x1345/0x1fd0 kernel/locking/lockdep.c:5137
        lock_acquire+0x1e3/0x530 kernel/locking/lockdep.c:5754
        __mutex_lock_common kernel/locking/mutex.c:608 [inline]
        __mutex_lock+0x136/0xd70 kernel/locking/mutex.c:752
        unix_set_peek_off+0x26/0xa0 net/unix/af_unix.c:789
       sk_setsockopt+0x207e/0x3360
        do_sock_setsockopt+0x2fb/0x720 net/socket.c:2307
        __sys_setsockopt+0x1ad/0x250 net/socket.c:2334
        __do_sys_setsockopt net/socket.c:2343 [inline]
        __se_sys_setsockopt net/socket.c:2340 [inline]
        __x64_sys_setsockopt+0xb5/0xd0 net/socket.c:2340
       do_syscall_64+0xf9/0x240
       entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x6f/0x77

other info that might help us debug this:

 Possible unsafe locking scenario:

       CPU0                    CPU1
       ----                    ----
  lock(sk_lock-AF_UNIX);
                               lock(&u->iolock);
                               lock(sk_lock-AF_UNIX);
  lock(&u->iolock);

 *** DEADLOCK ***

1 lock held by syz-executor.2/30025:
  #0: ffff8880765e7930 (sk_lock-AF_UNIX){+.+.}-{0:0}, at: lock_sock include/net/sock.h:1691 [inline]
  #0: ffff8880765e7930 (sk_lock-AF_UNIX){+.+.}-{0:0}, at: sockopt_lock_sock net/core/sock.c:1060 [inline]
  #0: ffff8880765e7930 (sk_lock-AF_UNIX){+.+.}-{0:0}, at: sk_setsockopt+0xe52/0x3360 net/core/sock.c:1193

stack backtrace:
CPU: 0 PID: 30025 Comm: syz-executor.2 Not tainted 6.8.0-rc4-syzkaller-00267-g0f1dd5e91e2b #0
Hardware name: Google Google C
---truncated---

Weakness: CWE-667 (Improper Locking)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-26732?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-26732?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2024-26732 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-26732 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-2024-26732 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-26732 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 3 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-2024-26732 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-2024-26732/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-26732/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-26732
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-26732
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-26732

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-26732/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.