# CVE-2026-45855: ata: libata-scsi: avoid Non-NCQ command starvation

> A flaw in the Linux kernel's libata-scsi driver allows non-NCQ commands to be starved under heavy NCQ load, causing significant delays or denial of service.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/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:** 27 May 2026
- **Updated:** 27 May 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-88713, BELL-CVE-2026-45855, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-45855, GHSA-45fm-cfrr-xr5q, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2026-45855, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2026-45855, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2026-45855, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2026-45855, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-45855

## What is CVE-2026-45855?

CVE-2026-45855 is a medium-severity denial of service 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:

ata: libata-scsi: avoid Non-NCQ command starvation

When a non-NCQ command is issued while NCQ commands are being executed,
ata_scsi_qc_issue() indicates to the SCSI layer that the command issuing
should be deferred by returning SCSI_MLQUEUE_XXX_BUSY.  This command
deferring is correct and as mandated by the ACS specifications since
NCQ and non-NCQ commands cannot be mixed.

However, in the case of a host adapter using multiple submission queues,
when the target device is under a constant load of NCQ commands, there
are no guarantees that requeueing the non-NCQ command will be executed
later and it may be deferred again repeatedly as other submission queues
can constantly issue NCQ commands from different CPUs ahead of the
non-NCQ command. This can lead to very long delays for the execution of
non-NCQ commands, and even complete starvation for these commands in the
worst case scenario.

Since the block layer and the SCSI layer do not distinguish between
queueable (NCQ) and non queueable (non-NCQ) commands, libata-scsi SAT
implementation must ensure forward progress for non-NCQ commands in the
presence of NCQ command traffic. This is similar to what SAS HBAs with a
hardware/firmware based SAT implementation do.

Implement such forward progress guarantee by limiting requeueing of
non-NCQ commands from ata_scsi_qc_issue(): when a non-NCQ command is
received and NCQ commands are in-flight, do not force a requeue of the
non-NCQ command by returning SCSI_MLQUEUE_XXX_BUSY and instead return 0
to indicate that the command was accepted but hold on to the qc using
the new deferred_qc field of struct ata_port.

This deferred qc will be issued using the work item deferred_qc_work
running the function ata_scsi_deferred_qc_work() once all in-flight
commands complete, which is checked with the port qc_defer() callback
return value indicating that no further delay is necessary. This check
is done using the helper function ata_scsi_schedule_deferred_qc() which
is called from ata_scsi_qc_complete(). This thus excludes this mechanism
from all internal non-NCQ commands issued by ATA EH.

When a port deferred_qc is non NULL, that is, the port has a command
waiting for the device queue to drain, the issuing of all incoming
commands (both NCQ and non-NCQ) is deferred using the regular busy
mechanism. This simplifies the code and also avoids potential denial of
service problems if a user issues too many non-NCQ commands.

Finally, whenever ata EH is scheduled, regardless of the reason, a
deferred qc is always requeued so that it can be retried once EH
completes. This is done by calling the function
ata_scsi_requeue_deferred_qc() from ata_eh_set_pending(). This avoids
the need for any special processing for the deferred qc in case of NCQ
error, link or device reset, or device timeout.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-45855?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-45855?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-45855 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-45855 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-2026-45855 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-45855 is a medium-severity denial of service 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-2026-45855 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-2026-45855/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-45855/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-45855
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-45855
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-45855

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-45855/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.