CVE-2026-68440 net: txgbe: fix heap overflow when reading module EEPROM
A heap overflow in the txgbe network driver allows attackers to execute arbitrary code or escalate privileges via crafted EEPROM reads.
- 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
What is CVE-2026-68440?
CVE-2026-68440 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux, published on 12 Aug 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:
net: txgbe: fix heap overflow when reading module EEPROM
txgbe_read_eeprom_hostif() always copies round_up(length, 4) bytes into the caller buffer, which ethtool allocates with exactly 'length' bytes. A non-4-aligned length therefore causes an out-of-bounds write. Copy only the remaining bytes on the final dword instead.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-68440?
How do I fix CVE-2026-68440?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade to the fixed version. Memory-safe languages, compiler hardening and fuzzing prevent most new cases. More about Memory corruption.
Is CVE-2026-68440 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-68440 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as DEBIAN-CVE-2026-68440, GHSA-mr83-4qj4-pp44, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-68440.