---
id: "CVE-2026-98614"
kind: "vulnerability"
aliases: ["CVE-2026-98614"]
title: "Linux kernel SCTP: retransmit path update can livelock the kernel"
severity: "unknown"
cvss: null
epss: null
exploited: false
status: "open"
category: "runtime"
products: []
ecosystems: []
tags: ["linux-kernel", "runtime", "sctp", "self-hosted"]
not_affected_if: ["no-sctp-use"]
published_at: "2026-10-18T16:17:14+00:00"
first_seen_at: "2026-10-23T21:57:16+00:00"
updated_at: "2026-10-25T05:21:21+00:00"
sources: [{"source": "nvd", "url": "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-98614", "first_seen_at": "2026-10-23T21:57:16+00:00"}]
---

# Linux kernel SCTP: retransmit path update can livelock the kernel

In the Linux kernel's SCTP stack, the function that picks a new retransmit path can loop forever when every remaining transport is unconfirmed. The fix makes that loop terminate and keeps a NULL path from being installed.

_Summary, check and fix written by a model from the sources; labelled as such._

## How to check

- unknown

## Fix

- Update to a Linux kernel release that includes the upstream commit fixing sctp_assoc_update_retran_path(); the sources do not name a version.

## Timeline

- 2026-10-23T21:57:16+00:00 nvd https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-98614

## From the sources

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

sctp: avoid livelock while updating retransmit path

sctp_assoc_update_retran_path() can loop forever when every remaining
transport, including retran_path, is SCTP_UNCONFIRMED: the state check
runs before the wraparound test, so the loop cannot observe that it has
completed a full pass.

Fix this by considering a transport only when it is not UNCONFIRMED,
then checking whether the walk has returned to retran_path. This makes
the full-pass termination independent of the transport state while
preserving the existing fallback selection semantics.

Also restore the NULL guard around the retran_path assignment. In the
all-UNCONFIRMED case there is no eligible replacement transport, and
installing NULL would leave later retransmit-path users and the debug
print with a NULL path.

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