# CVE-2026-23327: cxl/mbox: validate payload size before accessing contents in cxl_payload_from_user_allowed()

> A local attacker can trigger a kernel out-of-bounds read in the CXL mailbox driver by sending an undersized payload, causing a system crash.

- **Severity:** High 7.1 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:H`)
- **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:** Yes
- **Published:** 25 Mar 2026
- **Updated:** 21 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2026-23327, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-23327, GHSA-2pc8-ghgj-6c2f, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2026-23327, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-13-CVE-2026-23327, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2026-23327, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23327

## What is CVE-2026-23327?

CVE-2026-23327 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 25 Mar 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:

cxl/mbox: validate payload size before accessing contents in cxl_payload_from_user_allowed()

cxl_payload_from_user_allowed() casts and dereferences the input
payload without first verifying its size. When a raw mailbox command
is sent with an undersized payload (ie: 1 byte for CXL_MBOX_OP_CLEAR_LOG,
which expects a 16-byte UUID), uuid_equal() reads past the allocated buffer,
triggering a KASAN splat:

BUG: KASAN: slab-out-of-bounds in memcmp+0x176/0x1d0 lib/string.c:683
Read of size 8 at addr ffff88810130f5c0 by task syz.1.62/2258

CPU: 2 UID: 0 PID: 2258 Comm: syz.1.62 Not tainted 6.19.0-dirty #3 PREEMPT(voluntary)
Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS rel-1.17.0-0-gb52ca86e094d-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014
Call Trace:
 <TASK>
 __dump_stack lib/dump_stack.c:94 [inline]
 dump_stack_lvl+0xab/0xe0 lib/dump_stack.c:120
 print_address_description mm/kasan/report.c:378 [inline]
 print_report+0xce/0x650 mm/kasan/report.c:482
 kasan_report+0xce/0x100 mm/kasan/report.c:595
 memcmp+0x176/0x1d0 lib/string.c:683
 uuid_equal include/linux/uuid.h:73 [inline]
 cxl_payload_from_user_allowed drivers/cxl/core/mbox.c:345 [inline]
 cxl_mbox_cmd_ctor drivers/cxl/core/mbox.c:368 [inline]
 cxl_validate_cmd_from_user drivers/cxl/core/mbox.c:522 [inline]
 cxl_send_cmd+0x9c0/0xb50 drivers/cxl/core/mbox.c:643
 __cxl_memdev_ioctl drivers/cxl/core/memdev.c:698 [inline]
 cxl_memdev_ioctl+0x14f/0x190 drivers/cxl/core/memdev.c:713
 vfs_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:51 [inline]
 __do_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:597 [inline]
 __se_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:583 [inline]
 __x64_sys_ioctl+0x18e/0x210 fs/ioctl.c:583
 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:63 [inline]
 do_syscall_64+0xa8/0x330 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:94
 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f
RIP: 0033:0x7fdaf331ba79
Code: ff ff c3 66 2e 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 00 0f 1f 40 00 48 89 f8 48 89 f7 48 89 d6 48 89 ca 4d 89 c2 4d 89 c8 4c 8b 4c 24 08 0f 05 <48> 3d 01 f0 ff ff 73 01 c3 48 c7 c1 a8 ff ff ff f7 d8 64 89 01 48
RSP: 002b:00007fdaf1d77038 EFLAGS: 00000246 ORIG_RAX: 0000000000000010
RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 00007fdaf3585fa0 RCX: 00007fdaf331ba79
RDX: 00002000000001c0 RSI: 00000000c030ce02 RDI: 0000000000000003
RBP: 00007fdaf33749df R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 0000000000000000
R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000246 R12: 0000000000000000
R13: 00007fdaf3586038 R14: 00007fdaf3585fa0 R15: 00007ffced2af768
 </TASK>

Add 'in_size' parameter to cxl_payload_from_user_allowed() and validate
the payload is large enough.

Weakness: CWE-125 (Out-of-bounds Read)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-23327?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-23327?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-23327 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-23327 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

- [CVE-2026-53266](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53266/): Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-6282](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-6282/): Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-0185](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-0185/): Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-2094](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-2094/): Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-53362](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53362/): Linux Kernel Unspecified (high 7.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-23327 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-23327 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 25 Mar 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-23327 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux kernel. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-23327/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-23327/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-23327
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-23327
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-23327

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-23327/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.