Reference page — cumulative record through Wednesday, August 19, 2026 UTC. Reference pages update as the archive grows; only dated daily editions are immutable pages of record.
Linux Linux — inet: inet_defrag: prevent sk release while still in use
AV AC PR UI S C I A CVSS EPSS %ile KEV
L L L N U N N H 5.5 .0040 32.9 —
AFFECTED
Product Versions Fixed
Linux 7026b1ddb6b8d4e6ee33dc2bd06c0ca8746fa7ab – —
Linux 4.1 – 5.4.285
TIMELINE
Feb 19 Reserved by Linux
Apr 18 Published (CNA: Linux)
Aug 4 RESCORED — CVE-2024-26921 (Linux). CVSS 7.8 → 5.5 (NVD).
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
inet: inet_defrag: prevent sk release while still in use
ip_local_out() and other functions can pass skb->sk as function argument.
If the skb is a fragment and reassembly happens before such function call
returns, the sk must not be released.
This affects skb fragments reassembled via netfilter or similar
modules, e.g. openvswitch or ct_act.c, when run as part of tx pipeline.
Eric Dumazet made an initial analysis of this bug. Quoting Eric:
Calling ip_defrag() in output path is also implying skb_orphan(),
which is buggy because output path relies on sk not disappearing.
A relevant old patch about the issue was :
8282f27449bf ("inet: frag: Always orphan skbs inside ip_defrag()")
[..]
net/ipv4/ip_output.c depends on skb->sk being set, and probably to an
inet socket, not an arbitrary one.
If we orphan the packet in ipvlan, then downstream things like FQ
packet scheduler will not work properly.
We need to change ip_defrag() to only use skb_orphan() when really
needed, ie whenever frag_list is going to be used.
Eric suggested to stash sk in fragment queue and made an initial patch.
However there is a problem with this:
If skb is refragmented again right after, ip_do_fragment() will copy
head->sk to the new fragments, and sets up destructor to sock_wfree.
IOW, we have no choice but to fix up sk_wmem accouting to reflect the
fully reassembled skb, else wmem will underflow.
This change moves the orphan down into the core, to last possible moment.
As ip_defrag_offset is aliased with sk_buff->sk member, we must move the
offset into the FRAG_CB, else skb->sk gets clobbered.
This allows to delay the orphaning long enough to learn if the skb has
to be queued or if the skb is completing the reasm queue.
In the former case, things work as before, skb is orphaned. This is
safe because skb gets queued/stolen and won't continue past reasm engine.
In the latter case, we will steal the skb->sk reference, reattach it to
the head skb, and fix up wmem accouting when inet_frag inflates truesize.
Lifecycle
Complete event history — 3 events, chronological
| Date | Event | Detail |
| February 19, 2024 | Reserved | Reserved by Linux |
| April 18, 2024 | Published | Published (CNA: Linux) |
| August 4, 2026 | RESCORED | RESCORED — CVE-2024-26921 (Linux). CVSS 7.8 → 5.5 (NVD). |
Affected
Affected products and packages — 2 rows
| Vendor | Product / Package | Ecosystem | Version introduced | Fixed |
| Linux | Linux | — | 7026b1ddb6b8d4e6ee33dc2bd06c0ca8746fa7ab | — |
| Linux | Linux | — | 4.1 | 5.4.285 |
About this page
This is a reference page, not a dated page of record. It assembles the complete lifecycle of CVE-2024-26921 from the CVE Program record, NVD enrichment, the CISA KEV catalog, EPSS, and OSV advisories. The box score's numbers (CVSS, EPSS, KEV status) are current as of Wednesday, August 19, 2026 UTC and are re-derived as the archive grows; only dated daily editions are immutable pages of record. The authoritative source for this identifier is cve.org.