CVE-2006-2274 in Stream Control Transmission Protocol
Summary
by MITRE
Linux SCTP (lksctp) before 2.6.17 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (infinite recursion and crash) via a packet that contains two or more DATA fragments, which causes an skb pointer to refer back to itself when the full message is reassembled, leading to infinite recursion in the sctp_skb_pull function.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 06/19/2019
The vulnerability described in CVE-2006-2274 represents a critical flaw in the Linux Stream Control Transmission Protocol implementation known as lksctp that affected versions prior to 2.6.17. This issue demonstrates a classic example of a recursive memory corruption vulnerability that can be exploited remotely to cause system instability. The flaw resides in the SCTP protocol stack's handling of fragmented data packets, specifically within the sctp_skb_pull function which is responsible for managing the reassembly of scattered network fragments into complete messages. The vulnerability operates through a sophisticated manipulation of packet structure that exploits the underlying data reassembly mechanism to create a self-referential pointer condition.
The technical exploitation mechanism involves crafting a specially formatted SCTP packet containing two or more DATA fragments that, when processed by the kernel's SCTP implementation, creates a circular reference in the socket buffer (skb) pointer chain. When the sctp_skb_pull function attempts to process this malformed packet, it enters an infinite recursion loop because the skb pointer references itself during the reassembly process. This self-referential condition causes the kernel to continuously traverse the same memory locations without termination, eventually exhausting system resources and leading to a complete system crash or denial of service condition. The vulnerability specifically targets the kernel's memory management and packet processing subsystems, making it particularly dangerous as it operates at the kernel level where it can affect the entire system stability.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability presents a significant risk to systems running Linux kernels with SCTP support, particularly those serving as network infrastructure components or applications requiring reliable stream-based communication. The remote nature of the attack means that adversaries can exploit this vulnerability from outside the local network without requiring authentication or privileged access. The impact extends beyond simple service disruption as the infinite recursion can cause systems to become unresponsive, requiring manual intervention for recovery, and potentially leading to extended downtime for critical services. Network administrators and security professionals must recognize this vulnerability as a potential threat to their infrastructure, especially in environments where SCTP is actively used for signaling protocols or real-time communication applications.
The vulnerability aligns with several established cybersecurity frameworks and classifications including CWE-121 for buffer overflow conditions and CWE-129 for improper validation of array indices. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this represents a privilege escalation and denial of service technique that can be categorized under T1499 for network disruption and T1070 for indicator removal. The exploitation pattern follows typical remote code execution attack vectors that leverage kernel memory corruption, making it a prime example of how protocol implementation flaws can create severe system stability issues. Organizations should implement immediate patching strategies and network monitoring to detect potential exploitation attempts, while also considering network segmentation to limit the impact of such attacks. The vulnerability underscores the importance of thorough kernel testing and validation, particularly for protocol implementations that handle complex packet reassembly scenarios.