# CVE-2026-74399: evm: terminate and bound the evm_xattrs read buffer

> A local attacker can read uninitialized kernel memory or cause a crash by triggering the EVM xattrs read path when no xattrs are enabled.

- **Severity:** Not scored
- **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:** 15 Aug 2026
- **Updated:** 17 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2026-74399, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-74399, GHSA-vgh3-675w-vhgv, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-74399

## What is CVE-2026-74399?

CVE-2026-74399 is a vulnerability in Linux, published on 15 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:

evm: terminate and bound the evm_xattrs read buffer

evm_read_xattrs() allocates size + 1 bytes, fills them from the list of
enabled xattrs, and then passes strlen(temp) to
simple_read_from_buffer(). When no configured xattrs are enabled, the
fill loop stores nothing and temp[0] remains uninitialized, so strlen()
reads beyond initialized memory.

Explicitly terminate the buffer after allocation, use snprintf() for
each formatted line, and pass the accumulated length, without risk of
truncation, to simple_read_from_buffer().

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-74399?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-74399?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-74399 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-74399 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-74399 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-74399 is a vulnerability in Linux, published on 15 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-2026-74399 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-2026-74399/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-74399/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-74399
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-74399
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-74399

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-74399/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.