CVE-2026-45839

bpf: reject negative CO-RE accessor indices in bpf_core_parse_spec()

Published May 27, 2026 CVSS 3.1 · 7.8 High EPSS < 1% KEV · Not listed
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

bpf: reject negative CO-RE accessor indices in bpf_core_parse_spec()

CO-RE accessor strings are colon-separated indices that describe a path
from a root BTF type to a target field, e.g. "0:1:2" walks through
nested struct members. bpf_core_parse_spec() parses each component with
sscanf("%d"), so negative values like -1 are silently accepted. The
subsequent bounds checks (access_idx >= btf_vlen(t)) only guard the
upper bound and always pass for negative values because C integer
promotion converts the __u16 btf_vlen result to int, making the
comparison (int)(-1) >= (int)(N) false for any positive N.

When -1 reaches btf_member_bit_offset() it gets cast to u32 0xffffffff,
producing an out-of-bounds read far past the members array. A crafted
BPF program with a negative CO-RE accessor on any struct that exists in
vmlinux BTF (e.g. task_struct) crashes the kernel deterministically
during BPF_PROG_LOAD on any system with CONFIG_DEBUG_INFO_BTF=y
(default on major distributions). The bug is reachable with CAP_BPF:

BUG: unable to handle page fault for address: ffffed11818b6626
#PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode
#PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present page
Oops: Oops: 0000 [#1] SMP KASAN NOPTI
CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 85 Comm: poc Not tainted 7.0.0-rc6 #18 PREEMPT(full)
RIP: 0010:bpf_core_parse_spec (tools/lib/bpf/relo_core.c:354)
RAX: 00000000ffffffff
Call Trace:
<TASK>
bpf_core_calc_relo_insn (tools/lib/bpf/relo_core.c:1321)
bpf_core_apply (kernel/bpf/btf.c:9507)
check_core_relo (kernel/bpf/verifier.c:19475)
bpf_check (kernel/bpf/verifier.c:26031)
bpf_prog_load (kernel/bpf/syscall.c:3089)
__sys_bpf (kernel/bpf/syscall.c:6228)
</TASK>

CO-RE accessor indices are inherently non-negative (struct member index,
array element index, or enumerator index), so reject them immediately
after parsing.

Remediation

No solution or workaround provided in the CVE record

Tracking

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Advisories

Source ID Title
Debian DLA Debian DLA DLA-4665-1 linux security update
Debian DLA Debian DLA DLA-4671-1 linux-6.1 security update
Debian DSA Debian DSA DSA-6355-1 linux security update
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8566-1 Linux kernel vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8567-1 Linux kernel vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8568-1 Linux kernel (OEM) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8569-1 Linux kernel (HWE) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8574-1 Linux kernel (GCP FIPS) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8575-1 Linux kernel vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8576-1 Linux kernel (NVIDIA Tegra) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8593-1 Linux kernel vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8574-2 Linux kernel vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8595-1 Linux kernel (Oracle) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8596-1 Linux kernel (NVIDIA) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8575-2 Linux kernel vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8576-2 Linux kernel (NVIDIA Tegra) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8597-1 Linux kernel (IBM) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8575-3 Linux kernel vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8595-2 Linux kernel (AWS) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8603-1 Linux kernel (Azure) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8606-1 Linux kernel (Azure) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8607-1 Linux kernel (Azure CVM) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8608-1 Linux kernel (Azure FIPS) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8609-1 Linux kernel (Azure CVM) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8610-1 Linux kernel (Azure CVM) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8574-3 Linux kernel vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8595-3 Linux kernel (AWS) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8618-1 Linux kernel vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8619-1 Linux kernel (HWE) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8620-1 Linux kernel vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8620-2 Linux kernel (Azure FIPS) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8620-3 Linux kernel (Intel IoTG) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8620-4 Linux kernel (Intel IoTG) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8663-1 Linux kernel (NVIDIA) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8664-1 Linux kernel (NVIDIA BaseOS) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8665-1 Linux kernel (Raspberry Pi) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8668-1 Linux kernel (GCP) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8728-1 Linux kernel (GCP) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8668-2 Linux kernel (Raspberry Pi) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8728-2 Linux kernel (Azure) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8728-3 Linux kernel (Oracle) vulnerabilities
History
Type Values Removed Values Added
Weaknesses CWE-129
CWE-20
Type Values Removed Values Added
Weaknesses CWE-129
CWE-20
Type Values Removed Values Added
Description In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: bpf: reject negative CO-RE accessor indices in bpf_core_parse_spec() CO-RE accessor strings are colon-separated indices that describe a path from a root BTF type to a target field, e.g. "0:1:2" walks through nested struct members. bpf_core_parse_spec() parses each component with sscanf("%d"), so negative values like -1 are silently accepted. The subsequent bounds checks (access_idx >= btf_vlen(t)) only guard the upper bound and always pass for negative values because C integer promotion converts the __u16 btf_vlen result to int, making the comparison (int)(-1) >= (int)(N) false for any positive N. When -1 reaches btf_member_bit_offset() it gets cast to u32 0xffffffff, producing an out-of-bounds read far past the members array. A crafted BPF program with a negative CO-RE accessor on any struct that exists in vmlinux BTF (e.g. task_struct) crashes the kernel deterministically during BPF_PROG_LOAD on any system with CONFIG_DEBUG_INFO_BTF=y (default on major distributions). The bug is reachable with CAP_BPF: BUG: unable to handle page fault for address: ffffed11818b6626 #PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode #PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present page Oops: Oops: 0000 [#1] SMP KASAN NOPTI CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 85 Comm: poc Not tainted 7.0.0-rc6 #18 PREEMPT(full) RIP: 0010:bpf_core_parse_spec (tools/lib/bpf/relo_core.c:354) RAX: 00000000ffffffff Call Trace: <TASK> bpf_core_calc_relo_insn (tools/lib/bpf/relo_core.c:1321) bpf_core_apply (kernel/bpf/btf.c:9507) check_core_relo (kernel/bpf/verifier.c:19475) bpf_check (kernel/bpf/verifier.c:26031) bpf_prog_load (kernel/bpf/syscall.c:3089) __sys_bpf (kernel/bpf/syscall.c:6228) </TASK> CO-RE accessor indices are inherently non-negative (struct member index, array element index, or enumerator index), so reject them immediately after parsing.
Title bpf: reject negative CO-RE accessor indices in bpf_core_parse_spec()
First Time appeared Linux
Linux linux Kernel
CPEs cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
Vendors & Products Linux
Linux linux Kernel
References
Weaknesses

Sources

Status
PUBLISHED
Assigner
Linux
Published
Updated
Oct 15, 2026, 1:19 AM
Reserved
May 13, 2026, 3:03 PM
Status
Modified
Published
May 27, 2026, 11:16 AM
Modified
Oct 15, 2026, 2:19 AM
Severity
Public date
May 27, 2026, 12:00 AM