CVE-2026-23178 HID: i2c-hid: fix potential buffer overflow in i2c_hid_get_report()
A buffer overflow in the Linux kernel's i2c-hid driver allows potential code execution or privilege escalation, though exploitation requires root access to hidraw devices.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Any signed-in user
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-23178?
CVE-2026-23178 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux, published on 14 Feb 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Official description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
HID: i2c-hid: fix potential buffer overflow in i2c_hid_get_report()
`i2c_hid_xfer` is used to read `recv_len + sizeof(__le16)` bytes of data into `ihid->rawbuf`.
The former can come from the userspace in the hidraw driver and is only bounded by HID_MAX_BUFFER_SIZE(16384) by default (unless we also set `max_buffer_size` field of `struct hid_ll_driver` which we do not).
The latter has size determined at runtime by the maximum size of different report types you could receive on any particular device and can be a much smaller value.
Fix this by truncating `recv_len` to `ihid->bufsize - sizeof(__le16)`.
The impact is low since access to hidraw devices requires root.
Weakness: CWE-122
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-23178?
How do I fix CVE-2026-23178?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade to the fixed version. Memory-safe languages, compiler hardening and fuzzing prevent most new cases. More about Memory corruption.
Is CVE-2026-23178 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-23178 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2026-23178, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-23178, GHSA-rhhh-mwpc-m2qj, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2026-23178, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-13-CVE-2026-23178, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2026-23178 and 2 more.