Vulnerability in Linux

CVE-2026-90011

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: scsi: target: iscsi: Reserve a terminator byte for the login payload iscsi_target_check_login_request() rejects a login PDU whose DataSegmentLength exceeds MAX_KEY_VALUE_PAIRS, but the test is '>' and login->req_buf is allocated with exactly MAX_KEY_VALUE_PAIRS bytes. Since iscsit_get_login_rx() receives payload_length + padding bytes, where padding = ((-payload_length) & 3); any payload_length from 8189 to 8192 fills the whole 8192 byte buffer. The write stays in bounds, but no byte is left for a NUL terminator. The buffer is subsequently consumed as a C string. In the CHAP path chap_check_algorithm() calls kstrdup(a_str), and extract_param() calls strstr(in_buf, pattern) followed by strlen_semi(), none of which take a length. convert_null_to_semi() additionally rewrites every embedded NUL to ';', so even a payload made of well formed NUL separated key=value records is left without a terminator. These walk past the end of the object into adjacent slab memory. It is reachable by an unauthenticated initiator against a portal configured for CHAP; when authentication is not required iscsi_login_zero_tsih_s2() rewrites AuthMethod to None and the CHAP path is never entered. Allocate one extra byte. kzalloc() zeroes it and nothing ever writes to it, as every writer copies to offset 0 for at most MAX_KEY_VALUE_PAIRS bytes, so the buffer is always terminated.

Published · last modified .

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 9.1 (Critical). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.008 (57.9th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 58th percentile — 57.9% 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-2026-90011: held from 0.009 to 0.008.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.009 · newest: 0.008 · change: -0.000

Affected products

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-90011?
CVE-2026-90011 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Linux. CVSS score: 9.1/10. Published 2026-09-16.
How severe is CVE-2026-90011?
Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.1 out of 10.