Buffer overflow in Linux

CVE-2026-31705

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ksmbd: fix out-of-bounds write in smb2_get_ea() EA alignment smb2_get_ea() applies 4-byte alignment padding via memset() after writing each EA entry. The bounds check on buf_free_len is performed before the value memcpy, but the alignment memset fires unconditionally afterward with no check on remaining space. When the EA value exactly fills the remaining buffer (buf_free_len == 0 after value subtraction), the alignment memset writes 1-3 NUL bytes past the buf_free_len boundary. In compound requests where the response buffer is shared across commands, the first command (e.g., READ) can consume most of the buffer, leaving a tight remainder for the QUERY_INFO EA response. The alignment memset then overwrites past the physical kvmalloc allocation into adjacent kernel heap memory. Add a bounds check before the alignment memset to ensure buf_free_len can accommodate the padding bytes. This is the same bug pattern fixed by commit beef2634f81f ("ksmbd: fix potencial OOB in get_file_all_info() for compound requests") and commit fda9522ed6af ("ksmbd: fix OOB write in QUERY_INFO for compound requests"), both of which added bounds checks before unconditional writes in QUERY_INFO response handlers.

Vulnerability class: Buffer Overflow

Published · last modified .

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 9.8 (Critical). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.007 (52.1th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 52nd percentile — 52.1% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS trend (30 days)EPSS over the last 30 days for CVE-2026-31705: held from 0.004 to 0.007.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.004 · newest: 0.007 · change: +0.003

Affected products

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-31705?
CVE-2026-31705 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Linux, classified under Out-of-bounds Write. CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2026-05-01.
How severe is CVE-2026-31705?
Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.