CVE-2026-43405: libceph: Use u32 for non-negative values in ceph_monmap_decode()

Severity: high (CVSS 7.5 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.6% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2026-05-08 · updated 2026-10-19
Weakness: CWE-908

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: libceph: Use u32 for non-negative values in ceph_monmap_decode() This patch fixes unnecessary implicit conversions that change signedness of blob_len and num_mon in ceph_monmap_decode(). Currently blob_len and num_mon are (signed) int variables. They are used to hold values that are always non-negative and get assigned in ceph_decode_32_safe(), which is meant to assign u32 values. Both variables are subsequently used as unsigned values, and the value of num_mon is further assigned to monmap->num_mon, which is of type u32. Therefore, both variables should be of type u32. This is especially relevant for num_mon. If the value read from the incoming message is very large, it is interpreted as a negative value, and the check for num_mon > CEPH_MAX_MON does not catch it. This leads to the attempt to allocate a very large chunk of memory for monmap, which will most likely fail. In this case, an unnecessary attempt to allocate memory is performed, and -ENOMEM is returned instead of -EINVAL.

Affected products

Linux kernel: from 5.11 before 5.15.203; from 5.16 before 6.1.167; from 6.2 before 6.6.130; from 6.7 before 6.12.78; from 6.13 before 6.18.19; from 6.19 before 6.19.9 — fixed in 5.15.203, 6.1.167, 6.12.78, 6.18.19, 6.19.9, 6.6.130

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 5.15.203, 6.1.167, 6.12.78, 6.18.19. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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