* [CVE-2026-89850][MODERATE REGULAR] scsi: qla2xxx: Don't query firmware state while chip is down
@ 2026-09-16 17:50 21% AL-KERNEL
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From: AL-KERNEL @ 2026-09-16 17:50 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: kernel-cve
CVE: CVE-2026-89850
Priority: MODERATE REGULAR
AL-KERNEL base severity: MODERATE
KPANIC flag: NO
Patch: scsi: qla2xxx: Don't query firmware state while chip is down
Commit: 178d984e8875292582e4295cf559b2b11d3c9325
Upstream patch: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/commit/?id=178d984e8875292582e4295cf559b2b11d3c9325
Original CVE announcement: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-89850
Analysis date: Wed, 16 Sep 2026 13:50:57 -0400
ActionableScore: 3
ActionableScore lower bound: 2
Actionable bucket: Borderline / manual review recommended
Manual review required: YES
Summary:
No one-sentence report phrase was found.
======================================================================
ABOUT THIS REPORT
======================================================================
The original Linux kernel CVE announcement for CVE-2026-89850 is available here:
https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-89850
The original announcement does not normally provide a security severity
estimate, CVSS assessment, or enough information to determine whether the
reported kernel bug represents a practically relevant security issue.
This report was generated by AL-KERNEL, an AI-assisted Linux kernel
vulnerability analysis system developed by Alexander Larkin. It combines
an autonomous classifier with LLM-assisted technical analysis and a
separate ActionableScore mechanism.
The purpose of this report is to prioritize Linux kernel CVEs before
manual review, identify cases that require prompt investigation, and
support automatic closure of issues that are unlikely to have meaningful
security impact.
Published priority for this report: MODERATE REGULAR
Manual review required: YES
A detailed explanation of the methodology and priority rules is included
at the end of this message.
======================================================================
AL-KERNEL CLASSIFICATION RESULT
======================================================================
CVE-2026-89850 MODERATE https://www.kernelcve.org/list/?q=CVE-2026-89850 CHECK WITH IMPACT FROM ORIG NN MODERATE Maybe valid. Check manually. Hints by AL-KERNEL: The best (paranoid) CVSS is 'AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H';CWE-667;CWE-362;CWE-754;Other CVSS 'AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H';BEST CVSS score: '5.5';DESCR 'qla2x00_fw_state_show() can issue a firmware state mailbox command while the chip is down or EEH recovery is busy because an error fallback re queried firmware state after the guarded path already failed. This second mailbox command can run outside optrom_mutex during ISP reset or PCI error recovery and can hang the qla2xxx adapter. For the CVSS the PR:L is used because a local user or process that can read the exposed sysfs firmware state attribute may trigger the show path, although reliable triggering also depends on reset or EEH timing. The issue is not network reachable and is a local control plane or sysfs trigger rather than packet or storage traffic parsing. Impact is denial of service through adapter hang and possible loss of storage availability. No memory corruption or privilege escalation primitive is indicated by the code change.';YES REQUIRES MANUAL CHECK; ,and ActionableScore result is Borderline / manual review recommended (with actual score 3) YES PRINTF-TTY SIMPLEFIX HARDWARE LINUS MEMORY DECREASED_TO_MODERATE_REGULAR_FROM_MODERATE7_BASED_ON_GUESSCVSS_AND_CIANNH NO NO checked
======================================================================
ACTIONABLESCORE ANALYSIS
======================================================================
ActionableScore=3
ActionableScoreLower=2
PrimitiveClass=CLASS_C
RealUAF=NO
HostAdminRequired=UNKNOWN
NamespaceScopedPrivilege=NO
ImportantCandidate=NO
ManualReview=RECOMMENDED
AutoDowngradeAllowed=YES
1. ActionableScore
* Raw conservative score: 2
* Conservative score: 2
* Raw paranoid score: 3
* Paranoid score: 3
* Final recommended bucket: **Borderline / manual review recommended**::
No floor or cap changed the score.
2. Signal breakdown
Conservative signals:
* +1: mailbox serialization and state-guard bypass. The fallback path re-issued `qla2x00_get_firmware_state()` after the guarded path failed, bypassing the chip-down and EEH-busy checks and running outside `optrom_mutex`.
* +1: storage adapter availability impact. The commit states that the second mailbox command during ISP reset or PCI error recovery can hang the qla2xxx adapter.
Paranoid additional signal:
* +1: plausible below-host-admin sysfs trigger. The vulnerable function is a sysfs show handler, and read-only sysfs attributes are commonly reachable by local non-admin users, but complete reliable triggering still depends on chip reset, EEH recovery, or mailbox failure timing.
Non-awarded signals:
* RealUAF not awarded. No freed object, stale pointer, double free, or repeated lifetime/refcount mutation is shown.
* CLASS_A or CLASS_B not awarded. The patch indicates an invalid synchronization/state-machine bug, not memory corruption.
* Controlled reclaim, arbitrary write, information disclosure, and privilege escalation are not demonstrated.
* Remote reachability not awarded. The trigger is local sysfs/control-plane behavior, not packet or storage command parsing from a remote initiator.
* Extra availability point not awarded. The adapter hang is the same availability consequence already counted.
* Race penalty not applied. The issue depends on reset or EEH state, but the evidence does not prove a narrow one-shot race that must be externally won by the attacker.
3. Reachability analysis
The directly affected path is `qla2x00_fw_state_show()`, a device attribute show handler. A local process that can read the firmware-state sysfs attribute may enter this function. The dangerous condition occurs when the chip is down, EEH is busy, ISP reset is in progress, PCI error recovery is active, or the in-lock mailbox query fails.
Host-admin-equivalent privilege is not positively established for merely reading the sysfs attribute, but complete reliable triggering may require conditions that an ordinary user cannot force. Therefore `HostAdminRequired=UNKNOWN`.
No namespace-scoped capability path is established. This is not a network namespace, container, or delegated CAP_NET_ADMIN case. Prior host setup exists in the practical sense that the system must have a qla2xxx-supported adapter and driver loaded, but this is normal device presence rather than an attacker-created object. Special hardware is required, but the prompt does not support applying a rare-hardware penalty merely because this is a driver bug.
4. Primitive and severity interpretation
The exact primitive is an unsynchronized firmware mailbox command issued after an earlier guarded failure path. The second call defeats the intended chip-down and EEH-busy guards and runs outside `optrom_mutex`.
This is not an active structured UAF and not fixed stale storage. It is a device-driver state-machine and synchronization bug. There is no concrete repeated release/refcount operation. There is no first lifetime operation that may free an object, and no second stale lifetime mutation.
Primitive class is `CLASS_C`: demonstrated behavior is primarily invalid-state behavior leading to adapter hang. The demonstrated consequence is denial of service against the qla2xxx storage adapter, with possible loss of storage availability. Speculative consequences beyond DoS are not supported by the patch.
`ImportantCandidate=NO` because there is no memory corruption, no security-boundary bypass, no authorization flaw, no UAF, and no unresolved strong exploitation primitive. `AutoDowngradeAllowed=YES` because the issue appears to be a constrained device-local DoS without meaningful corruption leverage. Operational severity can still matter on systems where the affected adapter carries critical storage.
5. One-sentence report phrase
A local sysfs read of the qla2xxx firmware state can cause a second unsynchronized mailbox query while the chip is down or EEH recovery is busy, potentially hanging the storage adapter and causing a denial of service.
6. Manual review recommendation
MANUAL CHECK RECOMMENDED
Reason: the bug is not an Important-class corruption primitive, but adapter hangs in a SCSI storage driver can have high operational impact and the practical privilege boundary depends on sysfs permissions and reset or EEH recovery conditions.
7. Call-site confidence
Call-site confidence: medium
======================================================================
UPSTREAM PATCH SUMMARY
======================================================================
Patch: scsi: qla2xxx: Don't query firmware state while chip is down
Commit: 178d984e8875292582e4295cf559b2b11d3c9325
Upstream URL: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/commit/?id=178d984e8875292582e4295cf559b2b11d3c9325
Commit description:
qla2x00_fw_state_show() initializes rval to QLA_FUNCTION_FAILED and jumps
to the out: label when the chip is down or EEH is busy. The out: block
then re-issued qla2x00_get_firmware_state() because rval != QLA_SUCCESS,
defeating the chip-down/EEH-busy guards and issuing a mailbox command
(outside optrom_mutex) during ISP reset or PCI error recovery, which can
hang the adapter. It also turned a normal in-lock mailbox failure into a
second unsynchronized mailbox attempt.
Make the out: fallback only mark the firmware state as unknown. The
mailbox is now issued at most once, inside optrom_mutex, and only when
the chip is up and not EEH-busy.
Fixes: b6faaaf ("scsi: qla2xxx: Serialize mailbox request")
Cc: [email protected]
Reported-by: Sashiko <[email protected]>
Signed-off-by: Nilesh Javali <[email protected]>
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/[email protected]
Signed-off-by: Martin K. Petersen (Oracle) <[email protected]>
Signed-off-by: Greg Kroah-Hartman <[email protected]>
Changed files:
drivers/scsi/qla2xxx/qla_attr.c
Diff excerpt:
Not included in this email. See the upstream URL for the full patch.
Full patch:
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/commit/?id=178d984e8875292582e4295cf559b2b11d3c9325
======================================================================
DETAILED REPORT METHODOLOGY
======================================================================
The original Linux kernel CVE announcement for CVE-2026-89850 can be found here:
https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-89850
The original CVE announcement normally does not include a security-level
estimate. In particular, it may not contain a CVSS assessment, an impact
level, or enough information to determine whether the reported bug is a
practically relevant security issue. One purpose of this parallel CVE list
is to provide that missing technical and prioritization information.
The original goal of the AL-KERNEL project was to prioritize Linux kernel
CVE analysis automatically before manual review. The system can also help
identify non-security issues that may be suitable for automatic closure.
This report was generated by AL-KERNEL, an AI-assisted Linux kernel
vulnerability analysis system developed by Alexander Larkin.
The first analysis stage combines an autonomous classifier with additional
LLM-based analysis. The autonomous classifier runs locally on a CPU and is
based on a backpropagation neural network. Together, these mechanisms
produce a technical vulnerability description, identify likely weakness
types, estimate CVSS severity, and provide input for ActionableScore.
Two CVSS estimates are retained because incomplete kernel vulnerability
information often permits more than one defensible interpretation:
Conservative CVSS vector: AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
The Best / paranoid CVSS vector: AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
The Best / paranoid CVSS score: 5.5
The conservative vector represents a lower-impact interpretation.
The Best/paranoid vector intentionally represents a plausible upper-bound
interpretation and should not automatically be treated as demonstrated
real-world impact.
CVSS may also need to be adjusted for a particular Linux deployment,
because actual reachability, privileges, enabled kernel configuration,
hardware, namespaces, exposed device nodes, and other environmental
conditions can differ significantly between systems.
A separate ActionableScore mechanism evaluates practical remediation
urgency. Its analysis may include reachability, attack prerequisites,
subsystem exposure, memory-corruption characteristics, denial-of-service
reliability, and possible confidentiality, integrity, or
privilege-escalation impact.
Conservative ActionableScore: 2
Paranoid ActionableScore: 3
The final base severity is taken directly from the second tab-separated
field of the AL-KERNEL classification result. ActionableScore does not
replace or independently override that final AL-KERNEL decision, and
if ActionableScore adjusted impact level of ALKERNEL, then you would see
self-readable flags above like INCREASED_TO_HIGH_BASED_ON_ACTIONABLESCOREHIGHEREQTHAN7.
For an AL-KERNEL result of MODERATE, this report uses the following
additional presentation split:
ActionableScore below 5 -> MODERATE REGULAR
ActionableScore 5 or more -> MODERATE 7.0
The distinction between MODERATE REGULAR and MODERATE 7.0 makes it
possible to identify Moderate issues that should receive manual analysis
and fixes before lower-priority MODERATE REGULAR issues. In many cases,
MODERATE REGULAR fixes may wait for a later rebase or routine update.
There is one override in which MODERATE REGULAR becomes MODERATE 7.0
even when the ActionableScore is below 5. When the AL-KERNEL result
contains the KPANIC flag, a MODERATE result is always presented as
MODERATE 7.0. The KPANIC flag selected with few regexps without
usage of AI at all, so it helps to detect cases when Kernel Crash happens
and similar (to filter False-Negative results from the LLM usage).
KPANIC indicates that a reliable kernel crash, kernel panic, or similarly
serious kernel availability impact was identified by the classification
workflow.
AL-KERNEL base severity for this report: MODERATE
KPANIC detected for this report: NO
Published priority for this report (same as in Subject): MODERATE REGULAR
These results are intended to support engineering triage. They are
machine-generated estimates, and cases marked for manual review should
be validated by a human security engineer before final disposition.
For more info read docs linked from here: https://kernelcve.org/
(and you can submit you own patch there to generate such a report
for non-existant CVE-id yet).
Note that in many cases this AI tool selects higher severity, than
real is (means you can expect Importants instead of Moderate 7.0 or
Moderates 7.0 instead of regular Moderates). If you see such cases,
please use reply email interface to add additional manual analyses
info to this particular CVE.
And please, please, let me know when you see Lows instead of Importants
or Important instead of Low (because particular for such cases I
need to tune this AI tool to make it better for this one and next similar).
My contact email for such notifications is [email protected] (and both
send reply to CVE record itself too and see "reply" button below for howto reply).
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