Vulnerability in Linux
CVE-2026-43442
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: io_uring: fix physical SQE bounds check for SQE_MIXED 128-byte ops When IORING_SETUP_SQE_MIXED is used without IORING_SETUP_NO_SQARRAY, the boundary check for 128-byte SQE operations in io_init_req() validated the logical SQ head position rather than the physical SQE index. The existing check: !(ctx->cached_sq_head & (ctx->sq_entries - 1)) ensures the logical position isn't at the end of the ring, which is correct for NO_SQARRAY rings where physical == logical. However, when sq_array is present, an unprivileged user can remap any logical position to an arbitrary physical index via sq_array. Setting sq_array[N] = sq_entries - 1 places a 128-byte operation at the last physical SQE slot, causing the 128-byte memcpy in io_uring_cmd_sqe_copy() to read 64 bytes past the end of the SQE array. Replace the cached_sq_head alignment check with a direct validation of the physical SQE index, which correctly handles both sq_array and NO_SQARRAY cases.
Published · last modified .
CVSS v3 metric
CVSS v3 base score 7.1 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:H.
EPSS exploit prediction
EPSS: 0.002 (6.1th percentile), scored .
Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 6th percentile — 6.1% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.
EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.001 · newest: 0.002 · change: +0.000
Affected products
- Linux — versions 1cba30bf9fdd6c982708f3587f609a30c370d889, 6.19, 0
- Linux Kernel — versions 7.0
References
Frequently asked questions
- What is CVE-2026-43442?
- CVE-2026-43442 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux. CVSS score: 7.1/10. Published 2026-05-08.
- How severe is CVE-2026-43442?
- High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.1 out of 10.