CVE-2026-97420

bpf: NUL-terminate replaced sysctl value

N/A
Published: September 24, 2026 at 04:03 PM UTC
Updated: October 3, 2026 at 11:17 AM UTC
1 product affected across 1 vendorLinux Kernel

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Severity
N/A
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.2%

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: bpf: NUL-terminate replaced sysctl value When writing to sysctls, proc_sys_call_handler() guarantees that the buffer passed to proc handlers is NUL-terminated. If bpf_sysctl_set_new_value() replaces the pending sysctl value, it can hand a replacement buffer directly to proc handlers. However, the helper currently copies only buf_len bytes into that buffer without appending a NUL terminator, leaving downstream parsers vulnerable to out-of-bounds access. Fix this by appending a '\0' after the replaced value to restore the expected sysctl semantics. Since the helper already rejects buf_len greater than PAGE_SIZE - 1, there is always room for the extra byte. Reproduced in a QEMU x86_64 guest booted with KASAN while exercising the sysctl replacement path with a cgroup/sysctl BPF program. The reproducer targets `/proc/sys/net/core/flow_limit_cpu_bitmap`, fills the original user write buffer with non-zero bytes, and overrides the sysctl value so the replacement buffer lacks a terminating NUL. Under that setup, the pre-fix kernel reported: BUG: KASAN: slab-out-of-bounds in strnchrnul+0x72/0x90 Read of size 1 at addr ffff88800de57000 by task repro_patch3/66 CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 66 Comm: repro_patch3 Not tainted 7.1.0-rc3-00269-g8370ca1f87cc #6 PREEMPT(lazy) Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.15.0-1 04/01/2014 Call Trace: <TASK> dump_stack_lvl+0x68/0xa0 print_report+0xcb/0x5e0 ? __virt_addr_valid+0x21d/0x3f0 ? strnchrnul+0x72/0x90 ? strnchrnul+0x72/0x90 kasan_report+0xca/0x100 ? strnchrnul+0x72/0x90 strnchrnul+0x72/0x90 bitmap_parse+0x37/0x2e0 flow_limit_cpu_sysctl+0xc6/0x840 ? __pfx_flow_limit_cpu_sysctl+0x10/0x10 ? __kvmalloc_node_noprof+0x5ba/0x870 proc_sys_call_handler+0x31d/0x480 ? __pfx_proc_sys_call_handler+0x10/0x10 ? selinux_file_permission+0x39f/0x500 ? lock_is_held_type+0x9e/0x120 vfs_write+0x98e/0x1000 ... </TASK> The buggy address is located 0 bytes to the right of allocated 4096-byte region [ffff88800de56000, ffff88800de57000) With this fix applied, rerunning the same sysctl-targeted path yields no corresponding KASAN reports.

Affected

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

5.8 ≤ v < 5.10.2715.8 ≤ v < 5.15.2225.8 ≤ v < 6.1.1895.8 ≤ v < 6.12.1115.8 ≤ v < 6.18.535.8 ≤ v < 6.6.1585.8 ≤ v < 7.232927393dc1ccd60fb2bdc05b9e8e887537614695.8
Vendor states this is fixed in 31377675c3d75603d957c08e338a9ac27e9f6cd5 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 36d3e9f62dc2beb9299d3bb6f589cb9e07f773fe (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 3b2814dd842a565fcf9cc370156e1ba9eae16239 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 76c14b10f50eb0afcc76e244562fa2d8c661e224 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in a66e3b5bacf38d6ab29fa05a9754f7a114485605 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in bfcee1f79aaefa90679ad47690107fb7682724ec (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in c73e4a04eedc677fe91a736d7a5db45100adba5e (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 5.10.271 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 5.15.222 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 5.8 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.1.189 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.12.111 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.18.53 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.6.158 (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.

Quick Info

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