CVE-2026-72098 dm-verity: fix buffer overflow in FEC calculation
A buffer overflow in the Linux kernel's dm-verity FEC calculation allows out-of-bounds writes, potentially leading to code execution or privilege escalation.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-72098?
CVE-2026-72098 is a critical memory corruption vulnerability in Linux, published on 15 Aug 2026. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Official description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
dm-verity: fix buffer overflow in FEC calculation
There's a buffer overflow in dm-verity-fec:
if (neras && *neras <= v->fec->roots) fio->erasures[(*neras)++] = i;
This allows *neras to reach roots + 1 (the post-increment pushes it past roots). This value is then passed as no_eras to decode_rs8(). Inside the RS decoder (lib/reed_solomon/decode_rs.c:113-121), the erasure locator polynomial loop writes lambda[j] where j can reach nroots + 1 — one element past the end of lambda[] (which is sized nroots + 1, valid indices 0..nroots). The out-of-bounds write lands on syn[0], corrupting the syndrome buffer.
Weakness: CWE-787
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-72098?
How do I fix CVE-2026-72098?
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-2026-72098 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-72098 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as AZL-96362, BELL-CVE-2026-72098, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-72098, GHSA-h569-8r6w-7rvq, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-72098.