# CVE-2026-53171: accel/ethosu: fix arithmetic issues in dma_length()

> Integer overflows in the Ethos-U accelerator driver allow bypassing bounds checks, potentially leading to privilege escalation or code execution.

- **Severity:** High 8.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/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:** 25 Jun 2026
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2026-53171, GHSA-vp3v-wxjh-fcp5, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-53171

## What is CVE-2026-53171?

CVE-2026-53171 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 25 Jun 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:

accel/ethosu: fix arithmetic issues in dma_length()

dma_length() derives DMA region usage from command stream values and
updates region_size[]:

    len = ((len + stride[0]) * size0 + stride[1]) * size1
    region_size[region] = max(..., len + dma->offset)

Several arithmetic issues can corrupt the derived region size:

- signed stride values may underflow when added to len
- intermediate multiplications may overflow
- len + dma->offset may overflow during region_size updates
- dma_length() error returns were not validated by the caller

region_size[] is later used by ethosu_job.c to validate command stream
accesses against GEM buffer sizes. Arithmetic wraparound can therefore
under-report region usage and bypass the bounds validation.

Fix by validating signed additions, using overflow helpers for
multiplications and offset updates, and propagating dma_length()
failures to the caller.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-53171?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-53171?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-53171 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-53171 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-2026-53171 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-53171 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 25 Jun 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-2026-53171 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-2026-53171/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53171/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-53171
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-53171
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-53171

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53171/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.