CVE-2026-31774: linux Out-of-bounds Read

Vulnerability summary

CVE-2026-31774 is a high (CVSS 7.1) Out-of-bounds Read vulnerability in linux. EPSS estimates a 0.17% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 5.5% of scored vulnerabilities.

Timeline

1. 01-05-2026
   PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
2. 19-10-2026
   Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: io_uring/net: fix slab-out-of-bounds read in io_bundle_nbufs() sqe->len is __u32 but gets stored into sr->len which is int. When userspace passes sqe->len values exceeding INT_MAX (e.g. 0xFFFFFFFF), sr->len overflows to a negative value. This negative value propagates through the bundle recv/send path: 1. io_recv(): sel.val = sr->len (ssize_t gets -1) 2. io_recv_buf_select(): arg.max_len = sel->val (size_t gets 0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF) 3. io_ring_buffers_peek(): buf->len is not clamped because max_len is astronomically large 4. iov[].iov_len = 0xFFFFFFFF flows into io_bundle_nbufs() 5. io_bundle_nbufs(): min_t(int, 0xFFFFFFFF, ret) yields -1, causing ret to increase instead of decrease, creating an infinite loop that reads past the allocated iov[] array This results in a slab-out-of-bounds read in io_bundle_nbufs() from the kmalloc-64 slab, as nbufs increments past the allocated iovec entries. BUG: KASAN: slab-out-of-bounds in io_bundle_nbufs+0x128/0x160 Read of size 8 at addr ffff888100ae05c8 by task exp/145 Call Trace: io_bundle_nbufs+0x128/0x160 io_recv_finish+0x117/0xe20 io_recv+0x2db/0x1160 Fix this by rejecting negative sr->len values early in both io_sendmsg_prep() and io_recvmsg_prep(). Since sqe->len is __u32, any value > INT_MAX indicates overflow and is not a valid length.

• CWE-125Out-of-bounds ReadThe product reads data past the end, or before the beginning, of the intended buffer.
• CWE-190Integer Overflow or WraparoundThe product performs a calculation that can produce an integer overflow or wraparound when the logic assumes that the resulting value will always be larger than the original value. This occurs when an integer value is incremented to a value that is too large to store in the associated representation. When this occurs, the value may become a very small or negative number.