TCP Use-After-Free: CVE-2026-98432 / CVSS 9.8(atlasum.net)
548 points by oger 17 hours ago | 250 comments
tl;dr: A remote, unauthenticated use-after-free in Linux's IPv4 TCP handshake (CVE-2026-98432, CVSS 9.8) affects kernels since 4.4, with Anthropic claiming Claude built a working root exploit against servers running multipath TCP listeners—which Go programs enable by default since 1.24. Upstream fixes shipped Oct 11–18 via a four-line change (kfree → kfree_rcu), but as of Oct 31 Ubuntu and RHEL 8/9/10 remain unpatched. Interim mitigations include nftables/iptables rules dropping IPv4 TCP packets carrying IP options and disabling MPTCP.
HN Discussion:
  • ~Title should have retained 'Linux' since vulnerability is OS-specific
  • ~Adds nuance/corrections about exploitability conditions and mitigations
  • ↑Criticizes Ubuntu/RHEL for failing to patch promptly on server-focused distros
  • ↑Sarcastic jab at C programmers, implicitly supporting memory-safe languages
  • •Questions scope/impact beyond servers—desktops, IoT, cloud load balancers