Vulnerability Database

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CVE-2026-46289 — linux / linux_kernel

Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

lib/scatterlist: fix length calculations in extract_kvec_to_sg

Patch series "Fix bugs in extract_iter_to_sg()", v3.

Fix bugs in the kvec and user variants of extract_iter_to_sg. This series is growing due to useful remarks made by sashiko.dev.

The main bugs are:

  • The length for an sglist entry when extracting from a kvec can exceed the number of bytes in the page. This is obviously not intended.
  • When extracting a user buffer the sglist is temporarily used as a scratch buffer for extracted page pointers. If the sglist already contains some elements this scratch buffer could overlap with existing entries in the sglist.

The series adds test cases to the kunit_iov_iter test that demonstrate all of these bugs. Additionally, there is a memory leak fix for the test itself.

The bugs were orignally introduced into kernel v6.3 where the function lived in fs/netfs/iterator.c. It was later moved to lib/scatterlist.c in v6.5. Thus the actual fix is only marked for backports to v6.5+.

This patch (of 5):

When extracting from a kvec to a scatterlist, do not cross page boundaries. The required length was already calculated but not used as intended.

Adjust the copied length if the loop runs out of sglist entries without extracting everything.

While there, return immediately from extract_iter_to_sg if there are no sglist entries at all.

A subsequent commit will add kunit test cases that demonstrate that the patch is necessary.

  • Published: Jun 8, 2026
  • Updated: Oct 17, 2026
  • CVE: CVE-2026-46289
  • Severity: Critical
  • Exploit:
  • CISA KEV:

CVSS v3:

  • Severity: Critical
  • Score: 9.8
  • AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CWEs:

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A security vulnerability is a weakness in software, hardware, or configuration that can be exploited to compromise confidentiality, integrity, or availability. Many vulnerabilities are tracked as CVEs (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures), which provide a standardized identifier so teams can coordinate patching, mitigation, and risk assessment across tools and vendors.

CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System) estimates technical severity, but it doesn't automatically equal business risk. Prioritize using context like internet exposure, affected asset criticality, known exploitation (proof-of-concept or in-the-wild), and whether compensating controls exist. A "Medium" CVSS on an exposed, production system can be more urgent than a "Critical" on an isolated, non-production host.

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