CVE-2026-90174 ksmbd: fix slab-out-of-bounds read in ksmbd_alloc_user()
A slab-out-of-bounds read in the Linux kernel's ksmbd module allows attackers to read sensitive memory or cause a system crash via malformed login responses.
- 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-2026-90174?
CVE-2026-90174 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux, published on 17 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:
ksmbd: fix slab-out-of-bounds read in ksmbd_alloc_user()
ksmbd_alloc_user() copies resp->hash_sz bytes out of the mountd IPC login response with
user->passkey_sz = resp->hash_sz; user->passkey = kmalloc(resp->hash_sz, KSMBD_DEFAULT_GFP); if (user->passkey) memcpy(user->passkey, resp->hash, resp->hash_sz);
resp->hash_sz is a __u16 supplied by the response, but resp->hash[] is only KSMBD_REQ_MAX_HASH_SZ bytes. A malformed or malicious login response can set hash_sz well beyond that (up to 65535), so the memcpy() reads past the end of the response object. ipc_validate_msg() does not bound hash_sz, so reject any response whose hash_sz exceeds the on-stack hash[] buffer before allocating and copying.
[ 2030.238706] BUG: KASAN: slab-out-of-bounds in ksmbd_alloc_user+0x278/0x680 [ 2030.240549] Read of size 65535 at addr ffff888121bb6680 by task kworker/4:1/18611 [ 2030.242296] [ 2030.242710] CPU: 4 UID: 0 PID: 18611 Comm: kworker/4:1 Not tainted 7.1.0-next-20260623-virtme #96 PREEMPT(lazy) [ 2030.242732] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.17.0-debian-1.17.0-1 04/01/2014 [ 2030.242743] Workqueue: ksmbd-io handle_ksmbd_work [ 2030.242763] Call Trace: [ 2030.242769] <TASK> [ 2030.242776] dump_stack_lvl+0xa2/0xd0 [ 2030.242794] print_address_description+0x77/0x200 [ 2030.242815] ? ksmbd_alloc_user+0x278/0x680 [ 2030.242831] print_report+0x58/0x70 [ 2030.242848] kasan_report+0x117/0x150 [ 2030.242869] ? ksmbd_alloc_user+0x278/0x680 [ 2030.242888] kasan_check_range+0x3c7/0x3f0 [ 2030.242908] ? ksmbd_alloc_user+0x278/0x680 [ 2030.242925] __asan_memcpy+0x29/0x70 [ 2030.242942] ksmbd_alloc_user+0x278/0x680 [ 2030.242960] ksmbd_login_user+0xc3/0x120 [ 2030.242978] ntlm_authenticate+0x5e6/0x1b00 [ 2030.243017] ? __pfx_ntlm_authenticate+0x10/0x10 [ 2030.243035] ? ksmbd_session_lookup+0x188/0x1d0 [ 2030.243054] ? __pfx_ksmbd_session_lookup+0x10/0x10 [ 2030.243090] ? __sanitizer_cov_trace_switch+0x7b/0x140 [ 2030.243108] smb2_sess_setup+0x1e4a/0x27b0 [ 2030.243126] ? copy_from_kernel_nofault+0x199/0x300 [ 2030.243156] ? __pfx_smb2_sess_setup+0x10/0x10 [ 2030.243173] ? get_smb2_cmd_val+0xe3/0x1c0 [ 2030.243208] handle_ksmbd_work+0x954/0x1280 [ 2030.243230] ? __pfx_handle_ksmbd_work+0x10/0x10 [ 2030.243249] ? process_scheduled_works+0xa07/0x1490 [ 2030.243270] ? process_scheduled_works+0xa07/0x1490 [ 2030.243291] process_scheduled_works+0xa70/0x1490 [ 2030.243320] ? __pfx_process_scheduled_works+0x10/0x10 [ 2030.243340] ? do_raw_spin_lock+0x130/0x300 [ 2030.243358] ? lock_is_held_type+0x7b/0x110 [ 2030.243388] worker_thread+0x932/0xe20 [ 2030.243415] kthread+0x38a/0x470 [ 2030.243431] ? __pfx_worker_thread+0x10/0x10 [ 2030.243451] ? __pfx_kthread+0x10/0x10 [ 2030.243467] ret_from_fork+0x484/0x910 [ 2030.243485] ? __pfx_ret_from_fork+0x10/0x10 [ 2030.243501] ? __switch_to+0xc77/0x12c0 [ 2030.243523] ? __pfx_kthread+0x10/0x10 [ 2030.243540] ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30 [ 2030.243564] </TASK> [ 2030.243570] [ 2030.290164] Allocated by task 19279: [ 2030.290911] kasan_save_track+0x3e/0x80 [ 2030.292179] __kasan_kmalloc+0x72/0x90 [ 2030.293217] __kvmalloc_node_noprof+0x3ff/0x6b0 [ 2030.294467] handle_generic_event+0x59b/0x750 [ 2030.295345] genl_family_rcv_msg_doit+0x238/0x340 [ 2030.296553] genl_rcv_msg+0x606/0x7b0 [ 2030.297129] netlink_rcv_skb+0x22b/0x4a0 [ 2030.298500] genl_rcv+0x2d/0x40 [ 2030.299273] netlink_unicast+0x7ba/0x930 [ 2030.300019] netlink_sendmsg+0x8c3/0xb00 [ 2030.301073] __sock_sendmsg+0xec/0x140 [ 2030.301579] __sys_sendto+0x357/0x470 [ 2030.302255] __x64_sys_sendto+0xe3/0x100 [ 2030.303425] do_syscall_64+0x135/0x460 [ 2030.304763] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f [ 2030.305594] [ 2030.305819] The buggy address belongs to the object at ffff888121bb6640 [ 2030.305819] which belongs to the cache kmalloc-192 of size 192 [ 2030.309595] The buggy address ---truncated---
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-90174?
How do I fix CVE-2026-90174?
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-2026-90174 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-90174 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as AZL-102468, BELL-CVE-2026-90174, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-90174, GHSA-xjjr-rjj9-3w22, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-90174.