# 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.

- **Severity:** High 7.1 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/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:** 17 Sep 2026
- **Updated:** 21 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-102468, BELL-CVE-2026-90174, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-90174, GHSA-xjjr-rjj9-3w22, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-90174

## 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.

## Is CVE-2026-90174 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-90174 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-90174 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: 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.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-90174 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-2026-90174/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-90174/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-90174
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-90174
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-90174

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-90174/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.