CVE-2026-81017 platform/chrome: sensorhub: Bound the EC-reported sensor number
An out-of-bounds read and write in the Linux kernel sensorhub driver allows attackers to potentially execute code or escalate privileges via malformed EC events.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-81017?
CVE-2026-81017 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux, published on 11 Sep 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:
platform/chrome: sensorhub: Bound the EC-reported sensor number
Each EC FIFO event carries an 8-bit sensor number (in->sensor_num). cros_ec_sensorhub_ring_handler() validates the FIFO event count, the per-read count and the ring bound, but not the sensor number, which cros_ec_sensor_ring_process_event() then uses unchecked to index sensorhub->batch_state[] - allocated with only sensorhub->sensor_num entries. A sensor number of sensor_num or larger is an out-of-bounds read and write of batch_state[].
Validate the sensor number in the ring handler, where each event is read from the EC, and drop a malformed event before it is used.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-81017?
How do I fix CVE-2026-81017?
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-2026-81017 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-81017 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2026-81017, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-81017, GHSA-9fvp-phgh-6gx2, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-81017.