{"id":"CVE-2026-97420","title":"In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nbpf: NUL-terminate replaced sysctl value\n\nWhen writing to sysctls, proc_sys_call_handler() guarantees that the\nbuffer passed to proc handlers is NUL-terminated","summary":"In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nbpf: NUL-terminate replaced sysctl value\n\nWhen writing to sysctls, proc_sys_call_handler() guarantees that the\nbuffer passed to proc handlers is NUL-terminated. If\nbpf_…","severity":"none","vendor":"Linux","product":"Linux","affected":["Linux >= 1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 < 76c14b10f50eb0afcc76e244562fa2d8c661e224","Linux >= 1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 < 3b2814dd842a565fcf9cc370156e1ba9eae16239","Linux >= 1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 < a66e3b5bacf38d6ab29fa05a9754f7a114485605","Linux < 6.12.111","Linux < 6.18.53","Linux (all versions)"],"published":"2026-09-24","updated":"2026-09-24","sourceUpdated":"2026-09-24T17:17:19.853","source":"NVD","sourceUrl":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-97420","references":[{"url":"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/3b2814dd842a565fcf9cc370156e1ba9eae16239","label":"416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67"},{"url":"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/76c14b10f50eb0afcc76e244562fa2d8c661e224","label":"416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67"},{"url":"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a66e3b5bacf38d6ab29fa05a9754f7a114485605","label":"416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67"}],"tags":["nvd","cve.org"],"ingestedAt":"2026-09-24T16:47:15.884Z","slug":"CVE-2026-97420","body":"## Overview\n\nIn the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nbpf: NUL-terminate replaced sysctl value\n\nWhen writing to sysctls, proc_sys_call_handler() guarantees that the\nbuffer passed to proc handlers is NUL-terminated. If\nbpf_sysctl_set_new_value() replaces the pending sysctl value, it can\nhand a replacement buffer directly to proc handlers. However, the\nhelper currently copies only buf_len bytes into that buffer without\nappending a NUL terminator, leaving downstream parsers vulnerable to\nout-of-bounds access.\n\nFix this by appending a '\\0' after the replaced value to restore the\nexpected sysctl semantics. Since the helper already rejects buf_len\ngreater than PAGE_SIZE - 1, there is always room for the extra byte.\n\nReproduced in a QEMU x86_64 guest booted with KASAN while exercising\nthe sysctl replacement path with a cgroup/sysctl BPF program. The\nreproducer targets `/proc/sys/net/core/flow_limit_cpu_bitmap`, fills\nthe original user write buffer with non-zero bytes, and overrides the\nsysctl value so the replacement buffer lacks a terminating NUL. Under\nthat setup, the pre-fix kernel reported:\n\n  BUG: KASAN: slab-out-of-bounds in strnchrnul+0x72/0x90\n  Read of size 1 at addr ffff88800de57000 by task repro_patch3/66\n  CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 66 Comm: repro_patch3 Not tainted 7.1.0-rc3-00269-g8370ca1f87cc #6 PREEMPT(lazy)\n  Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.15.0-1 04/01/2014\n  Call Trace:\n   <TASK>\n   dump_stack_lvl+0x68/0xa0\n   print_report+0xcb/0x5e0\n   ? __virt_addr_valid+0x21d/0x3f0\n   ? strnchrnul+0x72/0x90\n   ? strnchrnul+0x72/0x90\n   kasan_report+0xca/0x100\n   ? strnchrnul+0x72/0x90\n   strnchrnul+0x72/0x90\n   bitmap_parse+0x37/0x2e0\n   flow_limit_cpu_sysctl+0xc6/0x840\n   ? __pfx_flow_limit_cpu_sysctl+0x10/0x10\n   ? __kvmalloc_node_noprof+0x5ba/0x870\n   proc_sys_call_handler+0x31d/0x480\n   ? __pfx_proc_sys_call_handler+0x10/0x10\n   ? selinux_file_permission+0x39f/0x500\n   ? lock_is_held_type+0x9e/0x120\n   vfs_write+0x98e/0x1000\n   ...\n   </TASK>\n  The buggy address is located 0 bytes to the right of\n  allocated 4096-byte region [ffff88800de56000, ffff88800de57000)\nWith this fix applied, rerunning the same sysctl-targeted path yields\nno corresponding KASAN reports.\n\n## Remediation\n\nRefer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.","depth":"sunlit","depthScore":3,"depthScoreParts":{"impact":2.8,"likelihood":0,"exploitation":0,"ransomware":0},"changes":[]}