# CVE-2026-46167: usb: usblp: fix uninitialized heap leak via LPGETSTATUS ioctl

> A malicious USB printer can leak uninitialized kernel heap memory to local users via the LPGETSTATUS ioctl in the usblp driver.

- **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:** 15 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-88911, BELL-CVE-2026-46167, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-46167, GHSA-vq8g-vcx9-rmc5, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2026-46167, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2026-46167, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2026-46167, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2026-46167, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-46167

## What is CVE-2026-46167?

CVE-2026-46167 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:

usb: usblp: fix uninitialized heap leak via LPGETSTATUS ioctl

Just like in a previous problem in this driver, usblp_ctrl_msg() will
collapse the usb_control_msg() return value to 0/-errno, discarding the
actual number of bytes transferred.

Ideally that short command should be detected and error out, but many
printers are known to send "incorrect" responses back so we can't just
do that.

statusbuf is kmalloc(8) at probe time and never filled before the first
LPGETSTATUS ioctl.

usblp_read_status() requests 1 byte. If a malicious printer responds
with zero bytes, *statusbuf is one byte of stale kmalloc heap,
sign-extended into the local int status, which the LPGETSTATUS path then
copy_to_user()s directly to the ioctl caller.

Fix this all by just zapping out the memory buffer when allocated at
probe time.  If a later call does a short read, the data will be
identical to what the device sent it the last time, so there is no
"leak" of information happening.

Weakness: CWE-908 (Use of Uninitialized Resource)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-46167?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-46167?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-46167 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-46167 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-2026-46167 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-46167 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-2026-46167 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-2026-46167/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-46167/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-46167
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-46167
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-46167

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-46167/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.