CVE-2026-97420 (GCVE-0-2026-97420)

Vulnerability from cvelistv5 – Published: 2026-09-24 16:03 – Updated: 2026-09-25 12:43
VLAI
Title
bpf: NUL-terminate replaced sysctl value
Summary
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.
Severity
No CVSS data available.
Assigner
References
Impacted products
Vendor Product Version CPE status
Linux Linux Affected: 32927393dc1ccd60fb2bdc05b9e8e88753761469 , < 76c14b10f50eb0afcc76e244562fa2d8c661e224 (git)
Affected: 32927393dc1ccd60fb2bdc05b9e8e88753761469 , < 3b2814dd842a565fcf9cc370156e1ba9eae16239 (git)
Affected: 32927393dc1ccd60fb2bdc05b9e8e88753761469 , < a66e3b5bacf38d6ab29fa05a9754f7a114485605 (git)
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Linux Linux Affected: 5.8
Unaffected: 0 , < 5.8 (semver)
Unaffected: 6.12.111 , ≤ 6.12.* (semver)
Unaffected: 6.18.53 , ≤ 6.18.* (semver)
Unaffected: 7.2 , ≤ * (original_commit_for_fix)
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{
  "containers": {
    "cna": {
      "affected": [
        {
          "defaultStatus": "unaffected",
          "product": "Linux",
          "programFiles": [
            "kernel/bpf/cgroup.c"
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          "vendor": "Linux",
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              "version": "0",
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              "version": "6.12.111",
              "versionType": "semver"
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              "version": "6.18.53",
              "versionType": "semver"
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              "versionType": "original_commit_for_fix"
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              "operator": "OR"
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      "descriptions": [
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "value": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nbpf: NUL-terminate replaced sysctl value\n\nWhen writing to sysctls, proc_sys_call_handler() guarantees that the\nbuffer passed to proc handlers is NUL-terminated. If\nbpf_sysctl_set_new_value() replaces the pending sysctl value, it can\nhand a replacement buffer directly to proc handlers. However, the\nhelper currently copies only buf_len bytes into that buffer without\nappending a NUL terminator, leaving downstream parsers vulnerable to\nout-of-bounds access.\n\nFix this by appending a \u0027\\0\u0027 after the replaced value to restore the\nexpected sysctl semantics. Since the helper already rejects buf_len\ngreater than PAGE_SIZE - 1, there is always room for the extra byte.\n\nReproduced in a QEMU x86_64 guest booted with KASAN while exercising\nthe sysctl replacement path with a cgroup/sysctl BPF program. The\nreproducer targets `/proc/sys/net/core/flow_limit_cpu_bitmap`, fills\nthe original user write buffer with non-zero bytes, and overrides the\nsysctl value so the replacement buffer lacks a terminating NUL. Under\nthat setup, the pre-fix kernel reported:\n\n  BUG: KASAN: slab-out-of-bounds in strnchrnul+0x72/0x90\n  Read of size 1 at addr ffff88800de57000 by task repro_patch3/66\n  CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 66 Comm: repro_patch3 Not tainted 7.1.0-rc3-00269-g8370ca1f87cc #6 PREEMPT(lazy)\n  Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.15.0-1 04/01/2014\n  Call Trace:\n   \u003cTASK\u003e\n   dump_stack_lvl+0x68/0xa0\n   print_report+0xcb/0x5e0\n   ? __virt_addr_valid+0x21d/0x3f0\n   ? strnchrnul+0x72/0x90\n   ? strnchrnul+0x72/0x90\n   kasan_report+0xca/0x100\n   ? strnchrnul+0x72/0x90\n   strnchrnul+0x72/0x90\n   bitmap_parse+0x37/0x2e0\n   flow_limit_cpu_sysctl+0xc6/0x840\n   ? __pfx_flow_limit_cpu_sysctl+0x10/0x10\n   ? __kvmalloc_node_noprof+0x5ba/0x870\n   proc_sys_call_handler+0x31d/0x480\n   ? __pfx_proc_sys_call_handler+0x10/0x10\n   ? selinux_file_permission+0x39f/0x500\n   ? lock_is_held_type+0x9e/0x120\n   vfs_write+0x98e/0x1000\n   ...\n   \u003c/TASK\u003e\n  The buggy address is located 0 bytes to the right of\n  allocated 4096-byte region [ffff88800de56000, ffff88800de57000)\nWith this fix applied, rerunning the same sysctl-targeted path yields\nno corresponding KASAN reports."
        }
      ],
      "providerMetadata": {
        "dateUpdated": "2026-09-25T12:43:55.707Z",
        "orgId": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
        "shortName": "Linux"
      },
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          "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/76c14b10f50eb0afcc76e244562fa2d8c661e224"
        },
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          "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/3b2814dd842a565fcf9cc370156e1ba9eae16239"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a66e3b5bacf38d6ab29fa05a9754f7a114485605"
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      ],
      "title": "bpf: NUL-terminate replaced sysctl value",
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    "assignerShortName": "Linux",
    "cveId": "CVE-2026-97420",
    "datePublished": "2026-09-24T16:03:30.084Z",
    "dateReserved": "2026-09-24T14:53:16.868Z",
    "dateUpdated": "2026-09-25T12:43:55.707Z",
    "state": "PUBLISHED"
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                    "versionType": "semver"
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                    "versionType": "original_commit_for_fix"
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        "cveTags": [],
        "descriptions": [
          {
            "lang": "en",
            "value": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nbpf: NUL-terminate replaced sysctl value\n\nWhen writing to sysctls, proc_sys_call_handler() guarantees that the\nbuffer passed to proc handlers is NUL-terminated. If\nbpf_sysctl_set_new_value() replaces the pending sysctl value, it can\nhand a replacement buffer directly to proc handlers. However, the\nhelper currently copies only buf_len bytes into that buffer without\nappending a NUL terminator, leaving downstream parsers vulnerable to\nout-of-bounds access.\n\nFix this by appending a \u0027\\0\u0027 after the replaced value to restore the\nexpected sysctl semantics. Since the helper already rejects buf_len\ngreater than PAGE_SIZE - 1, there is always room for the extra byte.\n\nReproduced in a QEMU x86_64 guest booted with KASAN while exercising\nthe sysctl replacement path with a cgroup/sysctl BPF program. The\nreproducer targets `/proc/sys/net/core/flow_limit_cpu_bitmap`, fills\nthe original user write buffer with non-zero bytes, and overrides the\nsysctl value so the replacement buffer lacks a terminating NUL. Under\nthat setup, the pre-fix kernel reported:\n\n  BUG: KASAN: slab-out-of-bounds in strnchrnul+0x72/0x90\n  Read of size 1 at addr ffff88800de57000 by task repro_patch3/66\n  CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 66 Comm: repro_patch3 Not tainted 7.1.0-rc3-00269-g8370ca1f87cc #6 PREEMPT(lazy)\n  Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.15.0-1 04/01/2014\n  Call Trace:\n   \u003cTASK\u003e\n   dump_stack_lvl+0x68/0xa0\n   print_report+0xcb/0x5e0\n   ? __virt_addr_valid+0x21d/0x3f0\n   ? strnchrnul+0x72/0x90\n   ? strnchrnul+0x72/0x90\n   kasan_report+0xca/0x100\n   ? strnchrnul+0x72/0x90\n   strnchrnul+0x72/0x90\n   bitmap_parse+0x37/0x2e0\n   flow_limit_cpu_sysctl+0xc6/0x840\n   ? __pfx_flow_limit_cpu_sysctl+0x10/0x10\n   ? __kvmalloc_node_noprof+0x5ba/0x870\n   proc_sys_call_handler+0x31d/0x480\n   ? __pfx_proc_sys_call_handler+0x10/0x10\n   ? selinux_file_permission+0x39f/0x500\n   ? lock_is_held_type+0x9e/0x120\n   vfs_write+0x98e/0x1000\n   ...\n   \u003c/TASK\u003e\n  The buggy address is located 0 bytes to the right of\n  allocated 4096-byte region [ffff88800de56000, ffff88800de57000)\nWith this fix applied, rerunning the same sysctl-targeted path yields\nno corresponding KASAN reports."
          }
        ],
        "id": "CVE-2026-97420",
        "lastModified": "2026-09-25T13:17:25.540",
        "metrics": {},
        "published": "2026-09-24T17:17:19.853",
        "references": [
          {
            "source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
            "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/3b2814dd842a565fcf9cc370156e1ba9eae16239"
          },
          {
            "source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
            "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/76c14b10f50eb0afcc76e244562fa2d8c661e224"
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        "sourceIdentifier": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
        "vulnStatus": "Received"
      }
    },
    "suse_vex": {
      "aggregate_severity": "not set",
      "current_release_date": "2026-09-24T23:46:31Z",
      "cve": "CVE-2026-97420",
      "id": "CVE-2026-97420",
      "initial_release_date": "2026-09-24T23:46:31Z",
      "source": "SUSE CSAF VEX",
      "status": "interim",
      "title": "SUSE CVE CVE-2026-97420",
      "url": "https://ftp.suse.com/pub/projects/security/csaf-vex/cve-2026-97420.json",
      "version": "2"
    }
  }
}



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