CVE Catalog

CVE-2026-98839

Low risk· EPSS 5%
Published: Updated: Translated: NVD NIST

Exploitation Probability (EPSS)

Low risk
0.17%

5th percentile - higher than 5% of all known CVEs

Summary

In the Linux kernel, paste_selection() contains an unsigned underflow and slab-out-of-bounds read. When the line discipline buffer fills up, the function sleeps and drops the selection mutex, allowing a concurrent TIOCLINUX (TIOCL_SETSEL) ioctl to replace the buffer with a shorter selection. Upon resuming, vc_sel.buf_len - pasted underflows, causing an out-of-bounds read of up to 4094 bytes past the newly allocated buffer.

Risk Assessment

A local attacker or process with console access can trigger an out-of-bounds kernel memory read, potentially leading to information disclosure, system crash (panic), or privilege escalation.

Recommendation

Update the Linux kernel to a version containing the fix that terminates the loop when pasted >= vc_sel.buf_len. Until patched, restrict console and TIOCLINUX access for untrusted users.

Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

See all
Original NVD description (English source)

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: vt: selection: Fix unsigned underflow and slab-out-of-bounds read in paste_selection() In paste_selection(), the loop copies min_t(unsigned int, vc_sel.buf_len - pasted,tty->receive_room) bytes per iteration into tty_ldisc_receive_buf() and increments pasted += count. Because the selection mutex (vc_sel.lock) is dropped inside the loop Whenever the line discipline buffer fills up and paste_selection() sleeps on tty->write_wait, a concurrent TIOCLINUX (TIOCL_SETSEL) ioctl can replace vc_sel.buffer with a shorter selection and reduce vc_sel.buf_len below pasted. When paste_selection() resumes, vc_sel.buf_len - pasted underflows as an unsigned integer to a large positive value, causing tty_ldisc_receive_buf(ld, vc_sel.buffer + pasted, NULL, count) to read up to 4094 bytes out-of-bounds past the newly allocated vc_sel.buffer. Fix this by terminating the loop when pasted >= vc_sel.buf_len. Kernel stack trace (Linux 7.3.0-rc3): ================================================================== BUG: KASAN: slab-out-of-bounds in n_tty_receive_buf_common+0xa01/0x1650 Read of size 4094 at addr ffff888101c58010 by task kworker/u17:1/65 Workqueue: events_unbound flush_to_ldisc Call Trace: <TASK> dump_stack_lvl+0x70/0xa0 print_report+0x153/0x4c6 kasan_report+0xf1/0x120 kasan_check_range+0x11c/0x200 __asan_memcpy+0x29/0x70 n_tty_receive_buf_common+0xa01/0x1650 tty_ldisc_receive_buf+0x66/0x110 tty_port_default_receive_buf+0x6b/0xb0 flush_to_ldisc+0x1b4/0x410 process_one_work+0x6ff/0x1110 worker_thread+0x4a8/0xb70 kthread+0x307/0x3e0 ret_from_fork+0x3ed/0x680 </TASK> ==================================================================

Vulnerability data from NVD (NIST) · CISA KEV · EPSS