hwrng: virtio: clamp device-reported used.len at copy_data()
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Local
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- —
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- High · None · High
- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 5 fixed, 4 without a fix
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat.
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: hwrng: virtio: clamp device-reported used.len at copy_data() random_recv_done() stores the device-reported used.len directly into vi->data_avail. copy_data() then indexes vi->data[] using vi->data_idx (advanced by previous copy_data() calls) and issues a memcpy() without re-validating either value against the posted buffer size sizeof(vi->data) (SMP_CACHE_BYTES bytes, typically 32 or 64). A malicious or buggy virtio-rng backend can set used.len beyond sizeof(vi->data), steering the memcpy() past the end of the inline array into adjacent kmalloc-1k slab bytes. hwrng_fillfn() mixes those bytes into the guest RNG, and guest root can also observe them directly via /dev/hwrng. Concrete impact is inside the guest: - Memory-safety / hardening: any virtio-rng backend that over-reports used.len causes the driver to read past vi->data into unrelated slab contents. hwrng_fillfn() is a kernel thread that runs as soon as the device is probed; no guest userspace interaction is required to first-trigger the OOB. - Cross-boundary leak (confidential-compute threat model): a malicious hypervisor cooperating with a malicious or compromised guest root userspace can use /dev/hwrng as a leak channel for guest-kernel heap data. The host sets a large used.len, guest root reads /dev/hwrng, and the returned bytes contain guest kernel slab contents that were adjacent to vi->data. In practice, confidential-compute guests (SEV-SNP, TDX) usually disable virtio-rng entirely, so this path is narrow, but the fix is still worth carrying because the underlying memory-safety bug contaminates the guest RNG on any host. KASAN confirms the OOB on a 7.1-rc4 guest whose virtio-rng backend has been patched to report used.len = 0x10000: BUG: KASAN: slab-out-of-bounds in virtio_read+0x394/0x5d0 Read of size 64 at addr ffff88800ae0ba20 by task hwrng/52 Call Trace: __asan_memcpy+0x23/0x60 virtio_read+0x394/0x5d0 hwrng_fillfn+0xb2/0x470 kthread+0x2cc/0x3a0 Allocated by task 1: probe_common+0xa5/0x660 virtio_dev_probe+0x549/0xbc0 The buggy address belongs to the object at ffff88800ae0b800 which belongs to the cache kmalloc-1k of size 1024 The buggy address is located 0 bytes to the right of allocated 544-byte region [ffff88800ae0b800, ffff88800ae0ba20) Same class of bug as commit c04db81cd028 ("net/9p: Fix buffer overflow in USB transport layer"), which hardened usb9pfs_rx_complete() against unchecked device-reported length in the USB 9p transport. With the clamp at point of use and array_index_nospec() in place, the same harness boots cleanly: copy_data() returns zero for the bogus report, the device-supplied bytes after data_idx are discarded, and the driver issues a fresh request.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- No
- Technical impact
- Partial
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Linux | Linux | 2.6.26 and later | 5.10.261, 5.15.212, 6.1.178, 6.6.145, 6.12.96, 6.18.39, 7.1.4, 7.2 | Patch available | CNA |
- Linux VendorLinux Affected 2.6.26 and later Fixed in 5.10.261, 5.15.212, 6.1.178, 6.6.145, 6.12.96, 6.18.39, 7.1.4, 7.2 Patch available CNA
Remediation
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 5.10.261, 5.15.212, 6.1.178, 6.6.145, 6.12.96, 6.18.39, 7.1.4, 7.2
Red Hat 1 advisory
- RHSA-2026:68507 Released 2026-09-17 · Red Hat rating Importantkernel security, bug fix, and enhancement update
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 10) kernel-64k-debug-devel-6.12.0-211.56.1.el10_2, kernel-64k-debug-devel-matched-6.12.0-211.56.1.el10_2, kernel-64k-devel-6.12.0-211.56.1.el10_2 +12
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 10) kernel-6.12.0-211.56.1.el10_2, kernel-64k-6.12.0-211.56.1.el10_2, kernel-64k-core-6.12.0-211.56.1.el10_2 +29
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux CodeReady Linux Builder (v. 10) kernel-tools-libs-devel-6.12.0-211.56.1.el10_2, libperf-6.12.0-211.56.1.el10_2
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux Real Time (v. 10) kernel-rt-6.12.0-211.56.1.el10_2, kernel-rt-64k-6.12.0-211.56.1.el10_2, kernel-rt-64k-core-6.12.0-211.56.1.el10_2 +21
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux Real Time for NFV (v. 10) kernel-rt-6.12.0-211.56.1.el10_2, kernel-rt-core-6.12.0-211.56.1.el10_2, kernel-rt-debug-6.12.0-211.56.1.el10_2 +9
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | Affected | No fix yet |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | Affected | No fix yet |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | Affected | No fix yet |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 10) | Fixed | RHSA-2026:68507 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 10) | Fixed | RHSA-2026:68507 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux CodeReady Linux Builder (v. 10) | Fixed | RHSA-2026:68507 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux Real Time (v. 10) | Fixed | RHSA-2026:68507 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux Real Time for NFV (v. 10) | Fixed | RHSA-2026:68507 |
Not affected: 3 products
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-64456
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-7vrc-rff8-p548
- 2026-10-13 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
- 2026-10-16 CISA SSVC decision points changed
- 2026-10-20 Weakness changed · CISA ADP
References
Other 8
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/3aa3e89cf80721c8d382b4c1a2b70a0449dad4a5
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/63335e7b638ae70028ae285bb95153874a8bc852
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2e788948ff2a13358a303af112497a63201c5739
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/fde19b0d4eeabae042519313c843fe6f27d41e9d
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/81dd21b5f0c299cc7b5bf84f04a61938559d20e6
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/285e17c44e3873a73460f294acbd64018ff64385
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/92d5736a62040ec1cfff23ea57e6599301690ad5
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e3046eeada299f917a8ad883af4434bfb86556b1
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Sources
- CVE-2026-64456 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-64456 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-7vrc-rff8-p548 · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2026-64456 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences