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Linux Kernel CVE-2026-53173

| EUVDEUVD-2026-39264 HIGH
Out-of-bounds Write (CWE-787)
2026-06-25 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 GHSA-8652-hhjr-7fh7
7.8
CVSS 3.1 · Vendor: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
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Severity by source

Vendor (416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67) PRIMARY
7.8 HIGH
AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
vuln.today AI
7.8 HIGH

Local device ioctl with low-privileged access (AV:L/PR:L), deterministic attacker-controlled OOB write giving low complexity (AC:L) and full kernel C/I/A impact.

3.1 AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
4.0 AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
SUSE
5.5 MEDIUM
AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Primary rating from Vendor (416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67).

CVSS VectorVendor: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Attack Vector
Local
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
Low
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

Lifecycle Timeline

4
Analysis Generated
Jun 28, 2026 - 09:20 vuln.today
CVSS changed
Jun 28, 2026 - 08:22 NVD
7.8 (HIGH)
CVE Published
Jun 25, 2026 - 09:16 cve.org
UNKNOWN (no severity yet)
CVE Published
Jun 25, 2026 - 09:16 cve.org
HIGH 7.8

DescriptionCVE.org

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

accel/ethosu: fix OOB write in ethosu_gem_cmdstream_copy_and_validate()

The command stream parsing loop increments the index variable a second time when a 64-bit command word is encountered (bit 14 set), but does not re-check the loop bound before writing the second word:

for (i = 0; i < size / 4; i++) { bocmds[i] = cmds[0]; if (cmd & 0x4000) { i++; bocmds[i] = cmds[1]; /* unchecked */ } }

The buffer bocmds is backed by a DMA allocation of exactly size bytes from drm_gem_dma_create(ddev, size), giving valid indices [0, size/4-1].

When i == size/4 - 1 on entry to an iteration and bit 14 of cmds[0] is set, bocmds[size/4-1] is written in bounds, i is then incremented to size/4, and bocmds[size/4] writes four bytes past the end of the allocation.

Userspace controls both the buffer contents and the size argument via the ioctl, making this a userspace-triggerable heap out-of-bounds write.

Fix by checking the incremented index against the buffer bound before the second write and returning -EINVAL if the buffer is too small to contain the extended command.

AnalysisAI

Heap out-of-bounds write in the Linux kernel's accel/ethosu DRM driver (Arm Ethos-U NPU accelerator) allows a local user with access to the device to corrupt kernel heap memory through the command-stream copy-and-validate ioctl. The flaw stems from the parser advancing its index for 64-bit (bit-14-set) command words without re-checking the buffer bound, letting a crafted command stream write four bytes past a DMA allocation of attacker-controlled size. No public exploit is identified at time of analysis, EPSS is low (0.16%), and an upstream fix has landed in the stable trees.

Technical ContextAI

The vulnerability lives in ethosu_gem_cmdstream_copy_and_validate() in the accel/ethosu driver, which handles command streams submitted to an Arm Ethos-U neural processing unit (NPU) via DRM/accel GEM ioctls. The destination buffer bocmds is a DMA allocation sized exactly to the userspace-supplied 'size' argument via drm_gem_dma_create(), giving valid 32-bit-word indices [0, size/4 - 1]. The parsing loop copies one command word per iteration, but when a command sets bit 14 (0x4000) it consumes a second 64-bit-extension word and increments the loop index a second time before writing - without revalidating against the loop bound. This is a classic CWE-787 out-of-bounds write / CWE-193 off-by-one; the CWE field is N/A in the source data but the description unambiguously describes a heap OOB write. Because both the buffer contents and the size are controlled through the ioctl, an attacker can position the loop so i == size/4 - 1 on entry, trigger the extension path, and write bocmds[size/4] one word past the allocation.

RemediationAI

Apply the upstream kernel fix that revalidates the incremented index against the buffer bound and returns -EINVAL when the buffer is too small for the extended 64-bit command. Upstream fix available (commits c0837b9cf6eabbad8b8cbddaff1a46a6d0a2e29d and db6cb3e35cebf487f9a78ebd4cfa4b83708ff40d); per the EUVD record the fix is carried into stable kernels around 7.0.13 and 7.1 and mainline 6.19, but operators should track the exact patched build from their distribution rather than rely on those tags alone. Update to your distribution's kernel package that backports these commits and reboot. Where patching cannot be done immediately, the most effective compensating control is to prevent untrusted local users from reaching the Ethos-U accel device node - restrict permissions on the /dev/accel device (or unbind/blacklist the ethosu driver if the NPU is unused), which closes the ioctl path entirely at the cost of disabling NPU acceleration for legitimate workloads. Reference the kernel.org commits above and the NVD page (https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-53173) for fix details.

Vendor StatusVendor

SUSE

Severity: Moderate
Product Status
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP7 Not-Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP7 Not-Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP7 Not-Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP7 Not-Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP7 Not-Affected

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CVE-2026-53173 vulnerability details – vuln.today

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