# CVE-2026-31706: ksmbd: validate num_aces and harden ACE walk in smb_inherit_dacl()

> An authenticated attacker can cause a denial of service in the Linux kernel ksmbd module by triggering an integer overflow via a tampered DACL attribute.

- **Severity:** High 8.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 1 May 2026
- **Updated:** 21 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2026-31706, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-31706, GHSA-8pq6-4w7p-qw4g, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2026-31706, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2026-31706, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2026-31706, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-31706

## What is CVE-2026-31706?

CVE-2026-31706 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 1 May 2026. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

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

ksmbd: validate num_aces and harden ACE walk in smb_inherit_dacl()

smb_inherit_dacl() trusts the on-disk num_aces value from the parent
directory's DACL xattr and uses it to size a heap allocation:

  aces_base = kmalloc(sizeof(struct smb_ace) * num_aces * 2, ...);

num_aces is a u16 read from le16_to_cpu(parent_pdacl->num_aces)
without checking that it is consistent with the declared pdacl_size.
An authenticated client whose parent directory's security.NTACL is
tampered (e.g. via offline xattr corruption or a concurrent path that
bypasses parse_dacl()) can present num_aces = 65535 with minimal
actual ACE data.  This causes a ~8 MB allocation (not kzalloc, so
uninitialized) that the subsequent loop only partially populates, and
may also overflow the three-way size_t multiply on 32-bit kernels.

Additionally, the ACE walk loop uses the weaker
offsetof(struct smb_ace, access_req) minimum size check rather than
the minimum valid on-wire ACE size, and does not reject ACEs whose
declared size is below the minimum.

Reproduced on UML + KASAN + LOCKDEP against the real ksmbd code path.
A legitimate mount.cifs client creates a parent directory over SMB
(ksmbd writes a valid security.NTACL xattr), then the NTACL blob on
the backing filesystem is rewritten to set num_aces = 0xFFFF while
keeping the posix_acl_hash bytes intact so ksmbd_vfs_get_sd_xattr()'s
hash check still passes.  A subsequent SMB2 CREATE of a child under
that parent drives smb2_open() into smb_inherit_dacl() (share has
"vfs objects = acl_xattr" set), which fails the page allocator:

  WARNING: mm/page_alloc.c:5226 at __alloc_frozen_pages_noprof+0x46c/0x9c0
  Workqueue: ksmbd-io handle_ksmbd_work
   __alloc_frozen_pages_noprof+0x46c/0x9c0
   ___kmalloc_large_node+0x68/0x130
   __kmalloc_large_node_noprof+0x24/0x70
   __kmalloc_noprof+0x4c9/0x690
   smb_inherit_dacl+0x394/0x2430
   smb2_open+0x595d/0xabe0
   handle_ksmbd_work+0x3d3/0x1140

With the patch applied the added guard rejects the tampered value
with -EINVAL before any large allocation runs, smb2_open() falls back
to smb2_create_sd_buffer(), and the child is created with a default
SD.  No warning, no splat.

Fix by:

  1. Validating num_aces against pdacl_size using the same formula
     applied in parse_dacl().

  2. Replacing the raw kmalloc(sizeof * num_aces * 2) with
     kmalloc_array(num_aces * 2, sizeof(...)) for overflow-safe
     allocation.

  3. Tightening the per-ACE loop guard to require the minimum valid
     ACE size (offsetof(smb_ace, sid) + CIFS_SID_BASE_SIZE) and
     rejecting under-sized ACEs, matching the hardening in
     smb_check_perm_dacl() and parse_dacl().

v1 -> v2:
  - Replace the synthetic test-module splat in the changelog with a
    real-path UML + KASAN reproduction driven through mount.cifs and
    SMB2 CREATE; Namjae flagged the kcifs3_test_inherit_dacl_old name
    in v1 since it does not exist in ksmbd.
  - Drop the commit-hash citation from the code comment per Namjae's
    review; keep the parse_dacl() pointer.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-31706?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-31706?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-31706 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-31706 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-2026-31706 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-31706 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 1 May 2026. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-31706 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-2026-31706/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-31706/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-31706
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-31706
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-31706

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-31706/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.