CVE-2026-90011: scsi: target: iscsi: Reserve a terminator byte for the login payload

Severity: critical (CVSS 9.1 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.8% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2026-09-16 · updated 2026-10-19

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: scsi: target: iscsi: Reserve a terminator byte for the login payload iscsi_target_check_login_request() rejects a login PDU whose DataSegmentLength exceeds MAX_KEY_VALUE_PAIRS, but the test is '>' and login->req_buf is allocated with exactly MAX_KEY_VALUE_PAIRS bytes. Since iscsit_get_login_rx() receives payload_length + padding bytes, where padding = ((-payload_length) & 3); any payload_length from 8189 to 8192 fills the whole 8192 byte buffer. The write stays in bounds, but no byte is left for a NUL terminator. The buffer is subsequently consumed as a C string. In the CHAP path chap_check_algorithm() calls kstrdup(a_str), and extract_param() calls strstr(in_buf, pattern) followed by strlen_semi(), none of which take a length. convert_null_to_semi() additionally rewrites every embedded NUL to ';', so even a payload made of well formed NUL separated key=value records is left without a terminator. These walk past the end of the object into adjacent slab memory. It is reachable by an unauthenticated initiator against a portal configured for CHAP; when authentication is not required iscsi_login_zero_tsih_s2() rewrites AuthMethod to None and the CHAP path is never entered. Allocate one extra byte. kzalloc() zeroes it and nothing ever writes to it, as every writer copies to offset 0 for at most MAX_KEY_VALUE_PAIRS bytes, so the buffer is always terminated.

Affected products

Linux kernel: 3.1 — fixed in 7.3

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 7.3. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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