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CVE-2026-68124
mctp: serial: handle zero-length frames to prevent rx buffer overflow
Published 2026-08-10 (2 months ago) by the Linux kernel CNA. Subsystem drivers/net. Debian urgency: not yet assigned.
Debian does not build this code. The per-release build detail is under "Where it lives" below.
What to do, per Debian release
Debian's own status for CVE-2026-68124 in every release this site tracks, and what each one means in practice. Every status below is the one the Debian Security Team publishes for this CVE. source
| Release | Status | Version | What this means |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian 12bookworm | fixedDLA-4777-1 · 2026-09-08 · text | 6.1.187-1 | Update the kernel and reboot. DLA-4777-1 shipped the fix on 2026-09-08, in 6.1.187-1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts. |
| Debian 13trixie | fixed | 6.12.101-1 | Update the kernel and reboot. Fixed in 6.12.101-1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts. |
| Debian 14forky | fixed | 7.1.6-1 | Update the kernel and reboot. Fixed in 7.1.6-1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts. |
| Debian unstablesid | fixed | 7.1.6-1 | Update the kernel and reboot. Fixed in 7.1.6-1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts. |
| Debian 12bookworm · linux-6.12 | fixedDLA-4745-1 · 2026-08-18 · text | 6.12.101-1~deb12u1 | Update the kernel and reboot. DLA-4745-1 shipped the fix on 2026-08-18, in 6.12.101-1~deb12u1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts. |
The vulnerability
What the bug is
The MCTP serial receive state machine reads a frame length byte in mctp_serial_push_header() case 2 and validates it upper-bound-only: if (c > MCTP_SERIAL_FRAME_MTU) { dev->rxstate = STATE_ERR; } else { dev->rxlen = c; dev->rxpos = 0; dev->rxstate = STATE_DATA; ... } A length of zero passes this check, so rxlen is set to 0 and the state machine advances to STATE_DATA. In mctp_serial_push() STATE_DATA, the incoming byte is stored and rxpos incremented before the terminator is dev->rxbuf[dev->rxpos] = c; dev->rxpos++; dev->rxstate = STATE_DATA; if (dev->rxpos == dev->rxlen) { dev->rxpos = 0; dev->rxstate = STATE_TRAILER; } With rxlen == 0 the "rxpos == rxlen" terminator can never fire (rxpos is already 1 on the first data byte), so subsequent bytes are written past the end of the fixed 74-byte rxbuf, which is the last member of the netdev private area. Every following data byte is an attacker-controlled 1-byte out-of-bounds heap write, and the overflow continues until a frame (0x7e) or escape byte resets the parser -- effectively unbounded. Reaching this requires CAP_NET_ADMIN to attach the N_MCTP line discipline and bring the resulting mctpserialN netdev up, after which the bytes arrive via the tty receive path. Route a zero-length frame straight to STATE_TRAILER instead of STATE_DATA. The trailer/framing bytes are still consumed, and the frame resolves to a zero-length skb that the MCTP core rejects; the parser never enters STATE_DATA with rxlen == 0, so the out-of-bounds write can no longer occur. KASAN, on a frame of 0x7e 0x01 0x00 followed by data bytes (before this change): UBSAN: array-index-out-of-bounds in drivers/net/mctp/mctp-serial.c:370 index 74 is out of range for type 'u8 [74]' BUG: KASAN: slab-out-of-bounds in mctp_serial_tty_receive_buf Write of size 1 at addr ... by task kworker/u16:0 mctp_serial_tty_receive_buf tty_ldisc_receive_buf flush_to_ldisc Allocated by task 152: alloc_netdev_mqs mctp_serial_open v2: route zero-length frames to STATE_TRAILER instead of STATE_ERR so the trailer/framing bytes are still consumed (Jeremy Kerr). Found by 0sec automated security-research tooling (https://0sec.ai).
Where it lives
The fix touches these files. If the subsystem is one you do not use, the practical exposure is lower, though the package is still the vulnerable one.
drivers/net/mctp/mctp-serial.c
- What this is
- MANAGEMENT COMPONENT TRANSPORT PROTOCOL (MCTP)MAINTAINERS section matched on drivers/net/mctp/ · netdev@vger.kernel.org · Maintained
- Kernel module
- none to look for. The file would have gone into mctp_serial, and Debian does not compile it into that module, so finding mctp_serial in lsmod would say nothing about this CVE.
Check it on the machine
grep -wE 'CONFIG_MCTP|CONFIG_MCTP_SERIAL' /boot/config-$(uname -r)Reads the booted kernel's own configuration, on the machine and nowhere else. =y is built in, =m is a module, and an is not set line means the code is not there.
Show whether Debian builds this, per release
Debian does not build this code. In 5 releases below, every kernel flavour Debian publishes has the switch off, so the vulnerable file is compiled into no kernel binary Debian ships.
- bookworm, trixie, forky, sid, bookworm · linux-6.12n
- n
- not enabled on any flavour - this release does not build the code
- Build switches
- CONFIG_MCTP, CONFIG_MCTP_SERIAL
- Reads as
- all on means the file is compiled; any one off means it is not.
From the configuration Debian publishes for every kernel flavour it builds. It covers only the architectures Debian ships a linux-config package for, and nothing about a kernel you built yourself. Debian's own status above stays authoritative about the source package.MAINTAINERS kbuild Makefiles Debian linux-config packages
Signals
- Published
- 2026-08-10 (2 months ago)source
- CVSS
- 9.6 critical
CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:Hsource recompute it - Attack vector
- adjacent network (AV:A)source
- EPSS
- 0.34%, higher than 26.3% of all CVEssource
- CISA KEV
- not listedthe KEV catalogue
- Debian urgency
- not yet assignedsource
- Subsystem
- drivers/net
Upstream fixes
The versions the CNA records as introducing and fixing this, and the commit for each. source
| Introduced | Fixed in | Commit |
|---|---|---|
| 5.17 | 6.1.183 | 64b96ae79122 |
| 5.17 | 6.6.148 | 36dc6d6964a3 |
| 5.17 | 6.12.101 | 68819427bc07 |
| 5.17 | 6.18.42 | f80ba170d7b3 |
| 5.17 | 7.1.6 | 06a6b606129c |
| 5.17 | 7.2 | 793b9b729f1e |
Debian advisories
| Advisory | Date | Shipped to | Debian |
|---|---|---|---|
| DLA-4777-1 | 2026-09-08 | bookworm 6.1.187-1 | tracker |
| DLA-4745-1 | 2026-08-18 | bookworm 6.12.101-1~deb12u1 | tracker |
Why the CNA scored it this way
Quoted from the kernel CNA's own scoring file, word for word. A highlighted metric carries the most severe value CVSS v3.1 defines for it, which is what pushes the score up. source
- AV:AAttack vector, adjacent network
- The bug is triggered in mctp_serial_tty_receive_buf() by crafted DSP0253 serial frames; on BMC/datacenter systems MCTP-over-serial links management controllers on a shared management LAN, letting an adjacent unauthenticated peer inject 0x7e/0x01/0x00 frames without using host syscalls.
- AC:LAttack complexity, low
- Exploitation is deterministic: a zero-length length byte bypasses the upper-bound check, then each following serial byte is a controlled 1-byte heap OOB write until 0x7e/0x7d resets the parser; no races or attacker-uncontrollable memory layout are required.
- PR:NPrivileges required, none
- Triggering the overflow only requires delivering malicious serial bytes to an already-configured, running mctpserial netdev; a remote/adjacent MCTP peer or compromised management controller needs no Linux host credentials, CAP_NET_ADMIN, or root on the victim.
- UI:NUser interaction, none
- No victim user action is required at exploit time; administrative enablement of MCTP serial is deployment configuration, not end-user interaction under CVSS.
- S:CScope, changed
- Kconfig documents virtio-serial VM interconnect for MCTP serial; a malicious guest sending crafted frames to the host-side mctpserial binding can corrupt host kernel heap memory, crossing the guest/host virtualization security boundary.
- C:HConfidentiality impact, high
- Each overflow byte is attacker-controlled and the write stream is effectively unbounded past the 74-byte rxbuf (last netdev private field), enabling slab-out-of-bounds corruption that can be leveraged for arbitrary kernel memory disclosure.
- I:HIntegrity impact, high
- Sustained attacker-controlled out-of-bounds heap writes can corrupt adjacent kmalloc objects, function pointers, and netdev state, providing a standard path to arbitrary kernel write and privilege-escalating code execution.
- A:HAvailability impact, high
- KASAN/UBSAN report slab-out-of-bounds and array-index-out-of-bounds in mctp_serial_tty_receive_buf via flush_to_ldisc; continued overflow reliably causes kernel oops/panic or hang during tty receive processing.