# 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.

- **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:** 12 Aug 2026
- **Updated:** 17 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2026-68440, GHSA-mr83-4qj4-pp44, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-68440

## 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.

## Is CVE-2026-68440 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-68440 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-68440 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: 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.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-68440 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-2026-68440/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-68440/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-68440
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-68440
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-68440

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-68440/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.