* [CVE-2026-97535][MODERATE REGULAR] scsi: qla2xxx: Bound VP index against VP_CTRL IOCB bitmap size [ Upstream
@ 2026-09-25 11:04 21% AL-KERNEL
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From: AL-KERNEL @ 2026-09-25 11:04 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: kernel-cve
CVE: CVE-2026-97535
Priority: MODERATE REGULAR
AL-KERNEL base severity: MODERATE
KPANIC flag: NO
Patch: scsi: qla2xxx: Bound VP index against VP_CTRL IOCB bitmap size [ Upstream
Commit: 48a44e19746eaa70320a3c2571dcb345192fca72
Upstream patch: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/commit/?id=48a44e19746eaa70320a3c2571dcb345192fca72
Original CVE announcement: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-97535
Analysis date: Fri, 25 Sep 2026 07:04:09 -0400
ActionableScore: 2
ActionableScore lower bound: 1
Actionable bucket: Ordinary Moderate
Manual review required: NO
Summary:
No one-sentence report phrase was found.
======================================================================
ABOUT THIS REPORT
======================================================================
The original Linux kernel CVE announcement for CVE-2026-97535 is available here:
https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-97535
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: NO
A detailed explanation of the methodology and priority rules is included
at the end of this message.
======================================================================
AL-KERNEL CLASSIFICATION RESULT
======================================================================
CVE-2026-97535 MODERATE https://www.kernelcve.org/list/?q=CVE-2026-97535 CHECK WITH IMPACT FROM ORIG NN IMPORTANT Maybe valid. Check manually. Hints by AL-KERNEL: The best (paranoid) CVSS is 'AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H';*CWE-787;CWE-119;CWE-1284;Other CVSS 'AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H';BEST CVSS score: '7';DESCR 'An out of bounds write in the qla2xxx VP control IOCB path occurs when a virtual port index above the fixed 128 bit vp_idx_map capacity is accepted. The calculated byte offset can exceed the 16 byte bitmap and can corrupt trailing IOCB fields or an adjacent request ring slot. This requires a qla2xxx Fibre Channel adapter with NPIV support and firmware reporting more than 128 virtual ports. For the CVSS the PR:L in the paranoid score reflects a user with delegated Fibre Channel or network administration capabilities such as a service account or constrained container root, not necessarily full host root access. The issue is not directly network reachable because the vulnerable control path is initiated through local virtual port management. Impact is at least denial of service through corrupted adapter request data. The explicit kernel out of bounds write also creates a plausible but unproven risk of confidentiality and integrity impact and should be reviewed manually.';YES REQUIRES MANUAL CHECK; ,and ActionableScore result is Ordinary Moderate (with actual score 2) YES WRITE OOB SIMPLEFIX HARDWARE LINUS DECREASED_TO_MODERATE70_BASED_ON_ACTIONABLESCORELOWERTHAN5 DECREASED_TO_MODERATEREG_BASED_ON_ACTIONABLESCORELESSTHAN4 NO NO checked
======================================================================
ACTIONABLESCORE ANALYSIS
======================================================================
ActionableScore=2
ActionableScoreLower=1
PrimitiveClass=CLASS_B
RealUAF=NO
HostAdminRequired=UNKNOWN
NamespaceScopedPrivilege=UNKNOWN
ImportantCandidate=NO
ManualReview=RECOMMENDED
AutoDowngradeAllowed=YES
1. ActionableScore
* Raw conservative score: 1
* Conservative score: 1
* Raw paranoid score: 2
* Paranoid score: 2
* Final recommended bucket: **Ordinary Moderate**::
The conservative result reflects a concrete but highly bounded kernel overwrite. The paranoid result adds limited concern because the overwritten bytes may belong to an active IOCB or an adjacent request-ring entry consumed by the adapter firmware. No score floor or cap was applied.
2. Signal breakdown
Conservative signals:
* +1 Constrained kernel buffer overwrite. `vp_index` above 128 produces `map >= 16` and performs a bitwise write beyond the fixed 16-byte `vp_idx_map` array.
* No Reliable kernel crash or strong DoS point. The supplied evidence establishes corruption of trailing IOCB fields or an adjacent request-ring slot, but does not establish a host crash, panic, reset loop, or host-wide I/O failure.
* No Local unprivileged trigger point. The supplied patch does not establish that an ordinary user can create or control NPIV virtual ports.
* No privilege penalty. The supplied patch does not show the complete caller and permission checks, so host-admin-equivalent privilege is not positively established.
* No rare-hardware penalty. The vulnerable setup requires qla2xxx hardware, NPIV, and firmware reporting more than 128 ports, but the supplied evidence does not establish that the attacker cannot reach the management interface on an already affected system.
Paranoid-only signal:
* +1 Active descriptor corruption concern. The patch explicitly states that the out-of-bounds byte may corrupt trailing IOCB fields or an adjacent request-ring slot. IOCB request entries are active adapter command descriptors, so malformed firmware-visible command state is a technically defensible concern beyond passive metadata corruption.
Important non-awarded signals:
* Controlled reclaim is not demonstrated.
* Arbitrary kernel write is not demonstrated. The write is limited to setting one bit in a bounded range immediately following `vp_idx_map`.
* Attacker-controlled payload is limited. The attacker can influence the byte and bit selected through `vp_index`, but cannot supply arbitrary bytes.
* Remote reachability is not established. This is a local adapter virtual-port control path, not an FC frame parsing path.
* Confidentiality impact is not awarded. No disclosure or read-back path is established.
* Integrity impact is not awarded. IOCB corruption is real, but unauthorized modification of protected host data or persistent kernel state is not established.
* Privilege escalation is not awarded. No controlled object replacement, function-pointer influence, credential modification, arbitrary I/O command construction, or LPE chain is shown.
* No UAF, refcount error, repeated release, RCU lifetime violation, or double-free behavior is present.
3. Reachability analysis
The immediate trigger requires invoking the qla2xxx NPIV virtual-port control path with a `vp_index` above the 128-bit IOCB bitmap capacity while the adapter firmware reports `max_npiv_vports` greater than 128.
The exact userspace entry point and its permission checks are not included in the supplied patch. Fibre Channel NPIV virtual-port creation and destruction are normally management operations, but this is insufficient evidence to set `HostAdminRequired=YES`. Conversely, there is no evidence that an ordinary unprivileged user can complete the full trigger sequence, so `HostAdminRequired=NO` is also unsupported.
No namespace-scoped capability chain is shown. A container, network namespace, or delegated capability cannot be assumed to control a host qla2xxx HBA and its NPIV operations. Therefore `NamespaceScopedPrivilege=UNKNOWN`.
The affected deployment additionally requires qla2xxx Fibre Channel hardware with NPIV support and firmware advertising an unusually large virtual-port limit such as 191 or 255. The commit explicitly states that adapters reporting the usual limits of 63 or 127 ports are unaffected. This reduces practical exposure, but does not itself prove an attacker cannot reach an affected host.
No race is involved. The bug is an ordered index-validation failure.
4. Primitive and severity interpretation
The exact primitive is a bounded out-of-bounds bitwise write in `qla25xx_ctrlvp_iocb()`:
`vce->vp_idx_map[map] |= 1 << pos`
When `vp_index > 128`, `map` can exceed the 16-byte `vp_idx_map` boundary. The write can affect trailing IOCB fields or an adjacent request-ring slot depending on the IOCB layout.
This is not a UAF and does not involve stale storage, cleanup behavior, refcount mutation, object reclaim, callback dispatch, or lifetime confusion. It is a constrained overwrite into a fixed request-ring IOCB buffer. The attacker-controlled part is limited to selecting an out-of-bounds byte and bit within the limited overflow range. The patch does not establish arbitrary target selection or arbitrary data injection.
The demonstrated consequence is corruption of adapter request-ring data. Plausible operational consequences include malformed adapter commands, failed virtual-port operations, device reset, or I/O disruption. A kernel crash, confidentiality disclosure, integrity violation of protected data, privilege escalation, and arbitrary firmware command control remain speculative.
The issue is `CLASS_B` because a real kernel-memory overwrite exists and its interaction with IOCB layout and firmware command processing merits review. It is not `CLASS_A` because the overwrite is bounded, bitwise, fixed-target, and lacks demonstrated controlled reclaim, arbitrary write, sensitive-field targeting, or security-boundary impact.
`ImportantCandidate=NO` because the supplied evidence does not establish meaningful exploitation leverage beyond constrained corruption of a fixed IOCB/request-ring area. `AutoDowngradeAllowed=YES` because the known primitive is bounded and no unresolved active lifetime, authorization, controlled corruption, or cross-boundary primitive remains after excluding theoretical consequences.
Likely operational severity is ordinary Moderate or Low-like depending on the confirmed caller privileges and whether affected adapters with more than 128 NPIV ports are deployed.
5. One-sentence report phrase
A qla2xxx NPIV virtual-port index above the fixed 128-bit IOCB bitmap capacity can cause a bounded out-of-bounds bit write into trailing IOCB fields or an adjacent request-ring entry, potentially disrupting Fibre Channel adapter operations.
6. Manual review recommendation
MANUAL CHECK RECOMMENDED
The patch establishes a real out-of-bounds write into IOCB request-ring memory, but the supplied context does not show the complete caller privilege boundary, the exact overwritten IOCB fields for each layout, or whether firmware processing can convert the bounded bit corruption into a reliable host-level failure.
7. Call-site confidence
Call-site confidence: medium
======================================================================
UPSTREAM PATCH SUMMARY
======================================================================
Patch: scsi: qla2xxx: Bound VP index against VP_CTRL IOCB bitmap size [ Upstream
Commit: 48a44e19746eaa70320a3c2571dcb345192fca72
Upstream URL: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/commit/?id=48a44e19746eaa70320a3c2571dcb345192fca72
Changed files:
drivers/scsi/qla2xxx/qla_iocb.c
drivers/scsi/qla2xxx/qla_mid.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=48a44e19746eaa70320a3c2571dcb345192fca72
======================================================================
DETAILED REPORT METHODOLOGY
======================================================================
The original Linux kernel CVE announcement for CVE-2026-97535 can be found here:
https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-97535
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:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
The Best / paranoid CVSS vector: AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
The Best / paranoid CVSS score: 7
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: 1
Paranoid ActionableScore: 2
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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