Vulnerability in Linux

CVE-2026-90230

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: nvmet: fix heap out-of-bounds read in nvmet_auth_negotiate() nvmet_execute_auth_send() allocates the DH-HMAC-CHAP message buffer with the host-supplied transfer length (tl) and hands it to nvmet_auth_negotiate() without passing tl along. nvmet_auth_negotiate() then reads the negotiate header and, for each of the halen hash identifiers and dhlen DH group identifiers, indexes into the fixed idlist[60] array (hashes at idlist[0..halen), groups at idlist[30..]). Neither the transfer length nor halen/dhlen is validated. A malicious or non-conformant host can report a tl smaller than the negotiate structure, or a halen/dhlen larger than the array (both are u8, up to 255), making the loops read past the end of the allocated buffer (heap out-of-bounds read). The sibling nvmet_auth_reply() already validates tl against the structure size; the negotiate path did not. Pass tl into nvmet_auth_negotiate(), reject a tl that does not cover the negotiate data plus one full protocol descriptor, and reject halen/dhlen larger than NVME_AUTH_DHCHAP_MAX_DH_IDS.

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: 0.005 (39.7th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 40th percentile — 39.7% 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-2026-90230: held from 0.007 to 0.005.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.007 · newest: 0.005 · change: -0.002

Affected products

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-90230?
CVE-2026-90230 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Linux. CVSS score: 9.1/10. Published 2026-09-17.
How severe is CVE-2026-90230?
Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.1 out of 10.