Vulnerability in Linux
CVE-2026-72130
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: nvmet-auth: reject short AUTH_RECEIVE buffers nvmet_execute_auth_receive() trusts the AUTH_RECEIVE allocation length after checking only that it is nonzero and matches the transfer length. In the SUCCESS1 and FAILURE1/default states, that lets a remote NVMe-oF initiator reach the fixed-size DH-HMAC-CHAP response builders with a kmalloc() buffer shorter than the response, so nvmet_auth_success1() and nvmet_auth_failure1() write past the allocation; both only WARN_ON the short length and then format the message anyway. Impact: A remote NVMe-oF initiator with access to an auth-enabled target can trigger a 16-byte heap out-of-bounds write via a one-byte AUTH_RECEIVE allocation length. Compute the minimum response length for the current DH-HMAC-CHAP step in nvmet_auth_receive_data_len() and report a zero data length when the host-supplied allocation length is shorter, so the existing zero-length check in nvmet_execute_auth_receive() rejects the command before any builder runs. The SUCCESS1 minimum is sizeof(struct nvmf_auth_dhchap_success1_data) plus the HMAC hash length, because the response hash is written into the rval[] flexible-array tail, so the minimum is state dependent rather than a flat sizeof. CHALLENGE keeps its existing variable-length guard in nvmet_auth_challenge(). This is reachable only when in-band DH-HMAC-CHAP authentication is configured on the target.
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: 0.008 (54.5th percentile), scored .
Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 55th percentile — 54.5% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.
EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.007 · newest: 0.008 · change: +0.001
Affected products
- Linux — versions 7.2-rc1, 7.2, 6.18.40
References
Frequently asked questions
- What is CVE-2026-72130?
- CVE-2026-72130 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Linux. CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2026-08-15.
- How severe is CVE-2026-72130?
- Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.