# CVE-2026-43280: drm/xe: Add bounds check on pat_index to prevent OOB kernel read in madvise

> A local attacker can trigger an out-of-bounds kernel read via the madvise IOCTL in the Intel Xe driver, potentially exposing sensitive kernel memory.

- **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:** 6 May 2026
- **Updated:** 19 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2026-43280, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-43280, GHSA-cmxm-m5w5-f84q, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-43280

## What is CVE-2026-43280?

CVE-2026-43280 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 6 May 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:

drm/xe: Add bounds check on pat_index to prevent OOB kernel read in madvise

When user provides a bogus pat_index value through the madvise IOCTL, the
xe_pat_index_get_coh_mode() function performs an array access without
validating bounds. This allows a malicious user to trigger an out-of-bounds
kernel read from the xe->pat.table array.

The vulnerability exists because the validation in madvise_args_are_sane()
directly calls xe_pat_index_get_coh_mode(xe, args->pat_index.val) without
first checking if pat_index is within [0, xe->pat.n_entries).

Although xe_pat_index_get_coh_mode() has a WARN_ON to catch this in debug
builds, it still performs the unsafe array access in production kernels.

v2(Matthew Auld)
- Using array_index_nospec() to mitigate spectre attacks when the value
is used

v3(Matthew Auld)
- Put the declarations at the start of the block

(cherry picked from commit 944a3329b05510d55c69c2ef455136e2fc02de29)

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

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-43280?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-43280?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-43280 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-43280 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-2026-43280 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-43280 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 6 May 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-2026-43280 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-2026-43280/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-43280/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-43280
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-43280
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-43280

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-43280/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.