# CVE-2026-45839: bpf: reject negative CO-RE accessor indices in bpf_core_parse_spec()

> A local attacker with CAP_BPF can crash the Linux kernel by loading a BPF program with negative CO-RE accessor indices, causing an out-of-bounds read.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/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:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 27 May 2026
- **Updated:** 15 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-88757, BELL-CVE-2026-45839, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-45839, GHSA-hj8v-m57h-q9mq, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2026-45839, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2026-45839, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-13-CVE-2026-45839, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2026-45839, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2026-45839, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-45839

## What is CVE-2026-45839?

CVE-2026-45839 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 27 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:

bpf: reject negative CO-RE accessor indices in bpf_core_parse_spec()

CO-RE accessor strings are colon-separated indices that describe a path
from a root BTF type to a target field, e.g. "0:1:2" walks through
nested struct members. bpf_core_parse_spec() parses each component with
sscanf("%d"), so negative values like -1 are silently accepted.  The
subsequent bounds checks (access_idx >= btf_vlen(t)) only guard the
upper bound and always pass for negative values because C integer
promotion converts the __u16 btf_vlen result to int, making the
comparison (int)(-1) >= (int)(N) false for any positive N.

When -1 reaches btf_member_bit_offset() it gets cast to u32 0xffffffff,
producing an out-of-bounds read far past the members array.  A crafted
BPF program with a negative CO-RE accessor on any struct that exists in
vmlinux BTF (e.g. task_struct) crashes the kernel deterministically
during BPF_PROG_LOAD on any system with CONFIG_DEBUG_INFO_BTF=y
(default on major distributions).  The bug is reachable with CAP_BPF:

 BUG: unable to handle page fault for address: ffffed11818b6626
 #PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode
 #PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present page
 Oops: Oops: 0000 [#1] SMP KASAN NOPTI
 CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 85 Comm: poc Not tainted 7.0.0-rc6 #18 PREEMPT(full)
 RIP: 0010:bpf_core_parse_spec (tools/lib/bpf/relo_core.c:354)
 RAX: 00000000ffffffff
 Call Trace:
  <TASK>
  bpf_core_calc_relo_insn (tools/lib/bpf/relo_core.c:1321)
  bpf_core_apply (kernel/bpf/btf.c:9507)
  check_core_relo (kernel/bpf/verifier.c:19475)
  bpf_check (kernel/bpf/verifier.c:26031)
  bpf_prog_load (kernel/bpf/syscall.c:3089)
  __sys_bpf (kernel/bpf/syscall.c:6228)
  </TASK>

CO-RE accessor indices are inherently non-negative (struct member index,
array element index, or enumerator index), so reject them immediately
after parsing.

Weakness: CWE-129 (Improper Validation of Array Index)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-45839?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-45839?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-45839 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-45839 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-2026-45839 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-45839 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 27 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-2026-45839 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-2026-45839/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-45839/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-45839
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-45839
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-45839

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-45839/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.