dbcve.org
FreeBSDOperating system

CVE-2026-7164

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-04-30
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Incorrect packet validation allowed unbounded recursion parsing SCTP chunk parameters. This can eventually result in a stack overflow and panic. Remote attackers can craft packets which cause affected systems to panic. This affects any system where pf is configured to process traffic, independent of the configured ruleset.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

The pf (packet filter) implementation has an incorrect packet validation flaw in SCTP chunk parameter parsing that allows unbounded recursion, leading to a stack overflow and system panic. Remote attackers can exploit this by sending crafted SCTP packets to any system with pf configured to process traffic, regardless of the ruleset in place.

MitigationApply vendor patches for pf/OpenBSD when available; until then, consider blocking or rate-limiting SCTP traffic at network perimeter devices or disabling SCTP processing if not required.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
FreeBSDOperating system
Affected:= 13.5= 14.3= 14.4= 15.0

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Check FreeBSD version
    Run `uname -r` or `freebsd-version -k` to determine the installed kernel version
    Affected if The version is 13.5, 14.3, 14.4, or 15.0
  2. Verify pf is enabled
    Check if pf is loaded or enabled by running `kldstat | grep pf` to check if the pf kernel module is loaded, or check `/etc/rc.conf` for `pf_enable="YES"`, or check if `/etc/pf.conf` exists and pf is running via `pfctl -si`
    Affected if pf is loaded or enabled on the system
  3. Confirm pf is processing traffic
    Run `pfctl -ss` to view the pf state table, or check if pf is actively filtering by running `pfctl -s all`
    Affected if pf has any active states or rules loaded (indicating it is processing network traffic)

A user is affected if they are running FreeBSD 13.5, 14.3, 14.4, or 15.0 with pf enabled and actively processing traffic, as the vulnerability exists in pf SCTP parsing regardless of the ruleset configuration.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply vendor patches for pf/OpenBSD when available; until then, consider blocking or rate-limiting SCTP traffic at network perimeter devices or disabling SCTP processing if not required.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

FreeBSD 14.4-STABLE or 15.0-STABLE (or the latest stable release available from security.freebsd.org)

  1. 1. Back up all critical data and configuration files before performing any system upgrade.
  2. 2. Update your FreeBSD ports and packages collection: portsnap fetch extract or git clone https://git.freebsd.org/ports.git /usr/ports
  3. 3. Update the base system using freebsd-update: freebsd-update fetch install
  4. 4. For minor version upgrades (e.g., 14.3 to 14.4), use: freebsd-update -r 14.4-RELEASE upgrade
  5. 5. After upgrade completion, reboot the system: shutdown -r now
  6. 6. Verify the running kernel version matches the expected patched version: uname -a
  7. 7. Ensure pf is functioning correctly post-upgrade: pfctl -s all
Caveat Kernel and base system upgrades may require rebuilding third-party kernel modules; review /usr/src/UPDATING for version-specific notes before upgrading

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in FreeBSD Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,930
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2026-7164 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data