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TI-2026-81871 Aliases CVE-2026-99164GHSA-6p78-3986-725v

Slab memory corruption in Linux kernel i.MX SPI driver DMA buffers

Priority LOW 33Published · Updated

Key facts

Attack vector
Local
Privileges required
Low
User interaction
None
Attack complexity
Low
Impact type
—
Confidentiality · integrity · availability
High · High · High
Fix status
Partial Red Hat: 4 without a fix

Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat.

Summary

The Linux kernel from version 7.0 is affected in the i.MX SPI driver (spi: imx). The driver allocates its DMA transmit and receive buffers smaller than the length it maps for DMA, so DMA operations reach past the end of each allocation and corrupt slab memory. A local user with low privileges can trigger this, with high impact to confidentiality, integrity and availability.

Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-11-06

Description from the CNA

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: spi: imx: fix slab corruption from undersized DMA bounce buffers Since commit faa8e404ad8e ("spi: imx: support dynamic burst length for ECSPI DMA mode"), the driver allocates its private DMA TX/RX buffers with kzalloc(dma_len), where dma_len is only rounded up to 4 bytes, but maps, syncs and unmaps them with DMA_CACHE_ALIGNED_LEN(dma_len), i.e. rounded up to the cache line size. As a result, the DMA API operates on memory beyond the end of the allocation. This was observed on a custom i.MX8MP platform with an mcp251xfd CAN controller under heavy RPMSG load, as a series of refcount_t warnings triggered from rpmsg_recv_done() in virtio_rpmsg_bus: refcount_t: addition on 0; use-after-free. refcount_t: underflow; use-after-free. refcount_t: saturated; leaking memory. Leading finally to an "Unable to handle kernel paging request" oops. Reproducing this problem took between 30 minutes and roughly 30 hours under the same workload. Hardware watchpoints on the refcount of a struct rpmsg_endpoint showed it was overwritten from 2 to 1 by __pi_memcpy_generic() in the irq/155-spi2.0 thread. Additionally it was found that a "normal" rpmsg_recv_done() took 11µs +/-2µs from its kref_get to kref_put. In the error case the same sequence took about 215µs +/-10µs. Based on this, an LLM was used to identify the size mismatch fixed here. Allocate the buffers with DMA_CACHE_ALIGNED_LEN(dma_len) so they cover the full mapped length, and use the same length for dma_sync_single_for_cpu() to stay consistent with map and unmap. With this patch applied, the same workload ran for more than 200 hours without the problem reproducing.

Why it matters now

EPSS 0.0013 2nd percentileScored 2026-11-07
Fix Partial Linux (Linux): 7.2.13, 7.3Red Hat: 4 without a fix

SSVC decision points

Not available: CISA has not published SSVC decision points for this record.

Affected products

VendorProductAffected versionsFixed inStatusSource
LinuxLinux7.0 and later7.2.13, 7.3Patch availableCNA
  • Linux VendorLinux Affected 7.0 and later Fixed in 7.2.13, 7.3 Patch available CNA

CPE names Threatist (inferred) · 1

Inferred from how NVD named this product before; not given by a source.

CPEVersionsRoleVendor
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*——Linux
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions — — ·Linux

Remediation

Upgrade the Linux kernel to 7.2.13 or 7.3, which contain the fix. Red Hat has no fix plan available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9, Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 and Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 5.

Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-11-06

  • Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 7.2.13, 7.3

Vendor assessments

Red Hat

Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →

ProductStatusPlan or fix
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10AffectedNo fix yet: Fix deferred
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9AffectedNo fix yet: Fix deferred
Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4AffectedNo fix yet: Fix deferred
Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 5AffectedNo fix yet: Fix deferred
Not affected: 4 products
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
  • Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4

Timeline

  1. 2026-10-28 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-99164
  2. 2026-10-28 Alias added: GHSA-6p78-3986-725v
  3. 2026-10-31 CVSS score added · CNA
  4. 2026-11-01 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
  5. 2026-11-01 CVSS score added · Red Hat
  6. 2026-11-02 Affected versions changed · Red Hat

References

  • TI-2025-26358 tls: fix handling of zero-length records on the rx_list KEVCVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
  • TI-2026-38352 netfilter: bridge: make ebt_snat ARP rewrite writable KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
  • TI-2021-02452 Incorrect authorization in Ubuntu linux kernel KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
  • TI-2013-05264 The (1) get_user and (2) put_user API functions in the Linux kernel before 3.5.5 on the… KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
  • TI-2022-00125 Integer overflow in kernel KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.4
  • TI-2013-01864 The perf_swevent_init function in kernel/events/core.c in the Linux kernel before 3.8.9… KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.4
See all 21741 →

Sources