# CVE-2026-46139: smb: client: use kzalloc to zero-initialize security descriptor buffer

> Uninitialized memory in the Linux kernel SMB client may leak heap data, potentially exposing sensitive information to attackers.

- **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:** 28 May 2026
- **Updated:** 14 Jun 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2026-46139, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-46139, GHSA-v8jf-78w3-v9hm, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2026-46139, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-46139

## What is CVE-2026-46139?

CVE-2026-46139 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 28 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:

smb: client: use kzalloc to zero-initialize security descriptor buffer

Commit 62e7dd0a39c2d ("smb: common: change the data type of num_aces
to le16") split struct smb_acl's __le32 num_aces field into __le16
num_aces and __le16 reserved. The reserved field corresponds to Sbz2
in the MS-DTYP ACL wire format, which must be zero [1].

When building an ACL descriptor in build_sec_desc(), we are using a
kmalloc()'ed descriptor buffer and writing the fields explicitly using
le16() writes now. This never writes to the 2 byte reserved field,
leaving it as uninitialized heap data.

When the reserved field happens to contain non-zero slab garbage,
Samba rejects the security descriptor with "ndr_pull_security_descriptor
failed: Range Error", causing chmod to fail with EINVAL.

Change kmalloc() to kzalloc() to ensure the entire buffer is
zero-initialized.

[1] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/openspecs/windows_protocols/ms-dtyp/20233ed8-a6c6-4097-aafa-dd545ed24428

Weakness: CWE-908 (Use of Uninitialized Resource)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-46139?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-46139?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-46139 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-46139 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-2026-46139 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-46139 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 28 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-2026-46139 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-2026-46139/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-46139/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-46139
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-46139
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-46139

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-46139/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.