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Linux Kernel EUVDEUVD-2026-59056

| CVE-2026-72098 CRITICAL
Out-of-bounds Write (CWE-787)
2026-08-15 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 GHSA-h569-8r6w-7rvq
9.8
CVSS 3.1 · Vendor: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
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Attack ChainAIDerived

Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain

  1. Access
    Gain write access to FEC-verity backing storage
  2. Delivery
    Plant crafted block corruption
  3. Exploit
    Kernel read invokes FEC recovery
  4. Execution
    Erasure count pushed to roots+1
  5. Persist
    OOB write clobbers RS syndrome buffer
  6. Impact
    Kernel memory corruption (DoS or privilege escalation)

Vulnerability Assessment

Weakness
CWE
ASVS 5.0
V15 - Secure Coding and Architecture Bounds checking, write limits
MITRE ATT&CK

2 techniques across 2 tactics: Execution, Privilege Escalation

The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up.

Exploitation Conditions

Exploitation requires a dm-verity target explicitly configured with FEC (Reed-Solomon, fec_roots set) - a non-default option used mainly in verified-boot/embedded and Android-style deployments - and the attacker must be able to introduce crafted corruption into the underlying data or FEC blocks such that the erasure count collected in dm-verity-fec reaches roots+1, forcing the decode_rs8() erasure path. Limiting factors: the FEC feature must be enabled (many dm-verity users run without it), the corruption must be precisely shaped to reach the off-by-one boundary rather than simply fail verification, and the attacker needs local access to the backing storage to plant it; there is no evidence of remote, unauthenticated triggering despite the AV:N in the supplied CVSS vector.

Impact

The supplied CVSS 3.1 base score of 9.8 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N) substantially overstates real-world risk and conflicts with the technical facts: the FEC decode path is only reached when a dm-verity target has FEC configured AND underlying data blocks are corrupted enough to invoke recovery, which is not a remote, network-reachable, unauthenticated primitive against a default configuration. EPSS (0.22%, 13th percentile) and the absence of any CISA KEV entry or public PoC all point to low practical exploitation likelihood, and the corruption is a single-element OOB write onto a specific adjacent buffer rather than a broadly controllable overflow, so weaponization into reliable code execution is non-trivial. That said, it is genuine kernel memory corruption with denial-of-service and potential privilege-escalation implications on affected builds, so an operator running FEC-enabled dm-verity (for example verified-boot Android/embedded fleets, where a mid-sized deployment might have thousands of identical devices) should still patch promptly. Bottom line: patch on the normal stable-kernel cadence, but treat the 9.8 as a scoring artifact - the network vector in particular is not supported by the description and should be reconciled with the vendor.

Exploit ScenarioDerived

An attacker with the ability to write corrupted data to the block device backing a FEC-enabled dm-verity target crafts corruption that produces just enough erasures to push the erasure count to roots+1; when the kernel reads those blocks and invokes FEC recovery, the Reed-Solomon decoder performs a one-element out-of-bounds write into the syndrome buffer, corrupting kernel memory to cause a crash or potentially escalate privileges. No public exploit code has been identified, and given AC and the need to control on-disk corruption the attack is non-trivial and local in nature.

Act Now Prioritize within 24-48h. Why: CRITICAL severity.
Patch available 0.2% exploitation probability (EPSS)

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AnalysisAIv1 – Aug 17, 2026

An out-of-bounds kernel write in the Linux kernel's dm-verity Forward Error Correction (FEC) code allows corruption of adjacent kernel memory when Reed-Solomon erasure recovery is triggered. An off-by-one in the erasure-counting logic lets the erasure count reach roots+1, which is then passed to decode_rs8() and overruns the lambda[] locator polynomial by one element, clobbering the syndrome buffer (syn[0]). It affects Linux systems using dm-verity with FEC enabled; there is no CISA KEV listing, no public exploit identified, and EPSS is low (0.22%, 13th percentile), indicating this is a memory-safety defect rather than an actively exploited threat.

RemediationAI

Vendor-released patch: update to a fixed stable kernel - 6.18.42, 7.1.5, or 7.2-rc3 (or any build containing commits 31d6e6c0, f7990c2b, or 5488d3a6 from git.kernel.org/stable) - as the primary fix. If immediate patching is not possible on a given fleet, the most direct compensating control is to disable dm-verity FEC on affected targets (drop the 'fec_roots/fec_blocks' parameters), which removes the vulnerable code path entirely at the cost of losing automatic corruption recovery so that verity will hard-fail on any block error instead of repairing it; this is acceptable where the backing storage is otherwise trusted. Where FEC must remain enabled, restrict local/physical and privileged access to the underlying block devices and dm setup so untrusted parties cannot introduce the crafted block corruption needed to trigger recovery. Track the vendor record at https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-72098 for downstream distro backports.

Affected VersionsENISA

Linux a739ff3f543afbb4a041c16cd0182c8e8d366e70 <31d6e6c0ba8d5a7bd59660035a089307100c5e8e
Linux patch: 7.1.5
Linux a739ff3f543afbb4a041c16cd0182c8e8d366e70 <f7990c2b0f08b8841fcd2652d1d7002f5994a7a7
Linux 4.5
Linux patch: 7.2-rc3
Linux patch: 6.18.42
Linux patch: 0
Linux a739ff3f543afbb4a041c16cd0182c8e8d366e70 <5488d3a69d205e28f74f18857b853aa12e778e66

Affected Packages

euvd linux no fix

Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)

Affects your stack

Affects 1 package in euvd

Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.

Technical ContextAI · show details

dm-verity is the device-mapper target that provides transparent block-level integrity verification (verified boot / read-only rootfs integrity), and its optional FEC layer uses Reed-Solomon coding (lib/reed_solomon) to repair corrupted blocks rather than fail the read. The bug is in dm-verity-fec's erasure collection: the guard 'if (neras && *neras <= v->fec->roots) fio->erasures[(*neras)++] = i' uses '<=' with a post-increment, so *neras can become roots+1. That value flows in as no_eras to decode_rs8(); inside decode_rs.c the erasure-locator loop indexes lambda[j] up to nroots+1, one past lambda[]'s allocated size of nroots+1 (valid 0..nroots), and the stray write lands on syn[0]. This is a classic off-by-one leading to an out-of-bounds write (CWE-787-class), even though the input lists CWE as N/A.

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  • Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources

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Severity by source

Vendor (416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67) PRIMARY 9.8 CRITICAL
AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
vuln.today AI 6.3 MEDIUM

Requires local ability to plant precisely crafted corruption on a FEC-enabled verity device, so AV:L/AC:H/PR:L; impact is kernel memory corruption (integrity/availability), no direct confidentiality disclosure.

3.1 AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H
4.0 AV:L/AC:H/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
SUSE 7.8 HIGH
AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Red Hat 7.8 HIGH

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

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

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

Lifecycle Timeline

4
CVSS changed
Aug 17, 2026 - 06:22 NVD
9.8 (CRITICAL)
Patch available
Aug 15, 2026 - 07:20 EUVD
CVE Published
Aug 15, 2026 - 06:21 cve.org
CRITICAL 9.8
CVE Published
Aug 15, 2026 - 06:21 cve.org
UNKNOWN (no severity yet)

DescriptionCVE.org

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

dm-verity: fix buffer overflow in FEC calculation

There's a buffer overflow in dm-verity-fec:

if (neras && *neras <= v->fec->roots) fio->erasures[(*neras)++] = i;

This allows *neras to reach roots + 1 (the post-increment pushes it past roots). This value is then passed as no_eras to decode_rs8(). Inside the RS decoder (lib/reed_solomon/decode_rs.c:113-121), the erasure locator polynomial loop writes lambda[j] where j can reach nroots + 1 - one element past the end of lambda[] (which is sized nroots + 1, valid indices 0..nroots). The out-of-bounds write lands on syn[0], corrupting the syndrome buffer.

Executive ViewAI

Why It Matters

A critical out-of-bounds write vulnerability in the Linux kernel's dm-verity Forward Error Correction component can corrupt adjacent kernel memory when activated on systems with this feature enabled. Although no active exploitation has been documented and exploitation probability is very low (0.2%), the CVSS score of 9.8 reflects the severity for vulnerable systems. Organizations running Linux with dm-verity FEC should prioritize applying the available patch.

Business Impact: High
Compensating Controls

Apply vendor patch.

Threat Intelligence Overview

EPSS Score
0.2%
Top 87% exploitable
Prevalence
Ubiquitous
Linux kernel is everywhere, though the FEC-enabled dm-verity path is niche
Data Quality
6 sources
Confidence: High

How this decision was reached

The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.

SignalValue
Severity CRITICAL
CISA KEV No
Public POC No
EPSS 0.2%
Patch available Yes
Active threat No
Deciding rule
CRITICAL severity
What every action level means
Emergency Immediate action required. Criteria: CRITICAL + in CISA KEV (actively exploited) without patch, OR CRITICAL + EPSS > 30% without patch, OR CRITICAL + active threat signals without patch.
Act Now Prioritize within 24-48h. Criteria: in KEV with patch available, OR CRITICAL + public POC, OR HIGH + EPSS > 10%, OR CRITICAL + active threat, OR any CRITICAL severity.
This Week Schedule remediation this week. Criteria: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9). Patch within normal change window.
This Month Plan within 30 days. Criteria: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9), lower exploitation probability. Include in regular patch cycle.
Monitor Track and reassess. Criteria: LOW severity (CVSS 0.1-3.9), minimal exploitation risk. No immediate action needed.

SSVC AssessmentENISA

SSVC Decision· derived
Scheduled
Exploitation· derived
None
System Exposure· derived
Open
Automatable· derived
Yes
Human Impact
High

Priority Score

49
Low Medium High Critical
KEV: 0
EPSS: 0
CVSS: +49
PoC: 0
Weaponized: 0
Threat intel: 0
Gov advisory: 0

Attack Technique

A buffer overflow occurs when a program writes more data to a memory buffer than it was allocated to hold, causing the excess data to spill into adjacent memory regions.

Memory corruption occurs when a program writes data beyond the boundaries of allocated memory regions or accesses memory in unintended ways, violating the integrity of the process's address space.

Vendor StatusVendor

SUSE

Severity: Important
Product Status
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP7 Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP7 Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP7 Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP7 Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 16.0 Affected

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