CVE-2026-72135

tpm: Make the TPM character devices non-seekable

HIGH
7.8
CVSS Score
Published: August 15, 2026 at 05:53 AM UTC
Updated: October 16, 2026 at 07:17 PM UTC
1 product affected across 1 vendorLinux Kernel

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Severity
HIGH7.8
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.2%
SSVC
No known exploit

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: tpm: Make the TPM character devices non-seekable The TPM character devices expose a sequential command/response interface, but their open handlers leave FMODE_PREAD and FMODE_PWRITE enabled. After a command leaves a response pending, pread(fd, buf, 16, 0x1400) passes 0x1400 as *off to tpm_common_read(). The transfer length is bounded by response_length, but the offset is used unchecked when forming data_buffer + *off. A sufficiently large offset therefore causes an out-of-bounds heap read through copy_to_user() and, if the copy succeeds, an out-of-bounds zero-write through the following memset(). Positional I/O does not provide coherent semantics for this interface. An arbitrary pread offset cannot represent how much of a response has been consumed sequentially. The write callback always stores a command at the start of data_buffer, while pwrite() does not update file->f_pos and can leave the sequential read cursor stale. Call nonseekable_open() from both open handlers. This removes FMODE_PREAD and FMODE_PWRITE, causing positional reads and writes to fail with -ESPIPE before reaching the TPM callbacks, and explicitly marks the files non-seekable. Normal read() and write() continue to use the existing sequential f_pos cursor, leaving the response state machine unchanged. Tested on Linux 6.12 with KASAN and a swtpm TPM2 device: - sequential partial reads returned the complete response - pread() and preadv() with offset 0x1400 returned -ESPIPE - pwrite() and pwritev() with offset zero returned -ESPIPE - the pending response remained intact after the rejected operations - a subsequent normal command/response cycle completed normally - no KASAN report was produced.

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

5.09488585b21bef0df1217e510c7134905d1d376a7
Vendor states this is fixed in 21a13f932972bc9836f58c44fcd47c62abdecd95 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 232dcf908eb7eb9d8046a9597975caf44270966e (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 947b773caaa548672184df025271b29bdc80b0f1 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 9c513dabd4540f811585a2087f23069767a284da (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in ada4b9a5087ea7f30dd8e4c6411a4fb6547eb1ed (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in dda695fab5e21f923d29e8cb01df256468ddfbd1 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in ed0ffc2c016629e40ba041ed0424a772d8b02e2c (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in f20d61c22bcaf172d6790b6500e3838e532e71c8 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 5.0 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 5.10.261 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 5.15.212 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.1.178 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.12.97 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.18.40 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.6.145 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 7.1.5 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 7.2 (unaffected)

Remediation

No guide yet

No remediation guidance has been written for this CVE yet, and no fixed version or vendor advisory is recorded against it.

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCNo known exploitNot automatableTotal impact

SSVC signals action urgency (what to patch first), separate from CVSS which measures severity.

CVSS

7.8HIGHLinux
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusRECEIVED

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