# CVE-2026-64502: iio: adc: ad_sigma_delta: fix clear_pending_event for registerless devices

> A heap buffer overflow in the Linux kernel IIO ADC driver allows attackers to corrupt memory, potentially leading to code execution or system crashes.

- **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:** 25 Jul 2026
- **Updated:** 17 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2026-64502, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-64502, GHSA-2vpq-89rm-wm52, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2026-64502, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-64502

## What is CVE-2026-64502?

CVE-2026-64502 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux, published on 25 Jul 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:

iio: adc: ad_sigma_delta: fix clear_pending_event for registerless devices

ad_sigma_delta_clear_pending_event() falls through to the status register
read path for devices with has_registers = false and no rdy_gpiod. For
such devices, ad_sd_read_reg() skips the address byte entirely and clocks
raw MISO bytes with no address phase — making it byte-for-byte identical
to reading conversion data. If a pending conversion result is present,
this partially consumes it and corrupts the data stream for the subsequent
ad_sd_read_reg() call in ad_sigma_delta_single_conversion().

Furthermore, with num_resetclks = 0 on these devices, data_read_len
evaluates to 0. If the clocked byte has bit 7 clear, pending_event is set
and the code attempts memset(data + 2, 0xff, 0 - 1), overflowing to
SIZE_MAX and corrupting the heap.

Fix by returning 0 immediately when neither rdy_gpiod nor has_registers
is set. This is safe for all current registerless devices: ad7191 and
ad7780 (with powerdown GPIO) are reset between conversions by CS
deassertion, so there is no stale result to drain; ad7780 (without
powerdown GPIO) and max11205 are continuously-converting and cycle ~DRDY
at the output data rate regardless of whether the previous result was
read, so the next falling edge fires naturally.

A future registerless device that holds ~DRDY asserted until data is read
would be broken by this early return and would require either
num_resetclks set or a rdy-gpio.

The same heap corruption is reachable on any device with rdy_gpiod set
but num_resetclks = 0: if the GPIO indicates a pending event, the drain
path executes memset(data + 2, 0xff, 0 - 1) regardless of has_registers.
Add an explicit data_read_len == 0 guard after the pending event check;
the stale result is then consumed by the first ad_sd_read_reg() call in
ad_sigma_delta_single_conversion().

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-64502?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-64502?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-64502 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-64502 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-64502 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-64502 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux, published on 25 Jul 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-2026-64502 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux. 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-2026-64502/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-64502/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-64502
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-64502
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-64502

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-64502/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.