* [CVE-2026-98088][MODERATE REGULAR] scsi: mpt3sas: Avoid out-of-bounds cpumask_of_node() call in _base_assign_reply_queues() [ Upstream
@ 2026-09-25 17:59 21% AL-KERNEL
0 siblings, 0 replies; 1+ results
From: AL-KERNEL @ 2026-09-25 17:59 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: kernel-cve
CVE: CVE-2026-98088
Priority: MODERATE REGULAR
AL-KERNEL base severity: MODERATE
KPANIC flag: NO
Patch: scsi: mpt3sas: Avoid out-of-bounds cpumask_of_node() call in _base_assign_reply_queues() [ Upstream
Commit: 0a5f7cdb0cb911584720591069065f09c59ec4fc
Upstream patch: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/commit/?id=0a5f7cdb0cb911584720591069065f09c59ec4fc
Original CVE announcement: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-98088
Analysis date: Fri, 25 Sep 2026 13:59:28 -0400
ActionableScore: 1
ActionableScore lower bound: 0
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-2026-98088 is available here:
https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-98088
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-2026-98088 MODERATE https://www.kernelcve.org/list/?q=CVE-2026-98088 CHECK WITH IMPACT FROM ORIG NN LOW Maybe valid. Check manually. Hints by AL-KERNEL: The best (paranoid) CVSS is 'AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H';CWE-125;CWE-129;*CWE-20;Other CVSS 'AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L';BEST CVSS score: '4.4';DESCR 'An out-of-bounds read can occur in the mpt3sas reply queue assignment path because dev_to_node() may return NUMA_NO_NODE while cpumask_of_node() expects a valid node index. The negative index can select memory before node_to_cpumask_map and the resulting value may then be used as a CPU mask, potentially causing invalid IRQ affinity assignment, a driver failure, or a kernel crash. The issue requires an mpt3sas adapter with high IOPS queues and a platform that does not provide NUMA affinity for the PCI device. For the CVSS the PR:H is selected because reliable triggering normally requires administrative control over driver loading, device reset, or PCI driver binding. The issue is not directly network reachable and ordinary storage traffic alone is not shown to control the invalid node value. Impact is primarily local denial of service. The out-of-bounds read does not provide a demonstrated information disclosure or write primitive.';YES REQUIRES MANUAL CHECK; ,and ActionableScore result is Ordinary Moderate (with actual score 1) MAYBE WRITE KASAN OOB SIMPLEFIX HARDWARE DECREASED_TO_MODERATE_REGULAR_FROM_MODERATE7_BASED_ON_GUESSCVSS - - checked
======================================================================
ACTIONABLESCORE ANALYSIS
======================================================================
ActionableScore=1
ActionableScoreLower=0
PrimitiveClass=CLASS_C
RealUAF=NO
HostAdminRequired=UNKNOWN
NamespaceScopedPrivilege=NO
ImportantCandidate=NO
ManualReview=RECOMMENDED
AutoDowngradeAllowed=YES
1. ActionableScore
* Raw conservative score: 0
* Conservative score: 0
* Raw paranoid score: 1
* Paranoid score: 1
* No floor or cap was applied.
* Final recommended bucket: **Ordinary Moderate**::
2. Signal breakdown
Conservative signals:
* +1 Weak or indirect corruption candidate. `NUMA_NO_NODE` is passed as an array index, producing a concrete out-of-bounds read of a `cpumask` pointer that is subsequently used by queue-affinity code.
* -1 No attacker-controlled payload or target. The invalid index is fixed at `-1`, and the supplied evidence shows no control over the pointer read before `node_to_cpumask_map`.
* Total: 0.
Paranoid signals:
* +1 Weak or indirect corruption candidate for the same unchecked negative index.
* +1 Realistic kernel fault or strong driver failure. The value read outside the pointer array is consumed as a CPU mask, so later mask access can plausibly dereference an invalid address.
* -1 No attacker-controlled payload or target. There is no demonstrated control over adjacent memory, the resulting pointer, or its consumers.
* Total: 1.
Not awarded:
* No strong corruption bonus. There is no OOB write, UAF, controlled replacement, arbitrary write, or type confusion.
* No confidentiality point. No bytes are copied to userspace, a device, or the network.
* No integrity point. Incorrect IRQ affinity is possible, but no unauthorized modification of protected state is established.
* No remote-reachability point. Storage traffic is not shown to control the NUMA node value.
* No extra availability point. Any driver failure or crash is the same consequence already considered by the paranoid crash signal.
* No rare-hardware penalty. The code is hardware-specific, but the supplied evidence does not establish that mpt3sas hardware is sufficiently rare to justify it.
* No host-admin penalty. Administrative control appears relevant to deliberate driver loading, rebinding, or reset, but the complete trigger boundary is not sufficiently established to apply `-2`.
3. Reachability analysis
The defect is reached when mpt3sas assigns reply queues with `high_iops_queues` enabled and the PCI device has no NUMA node association. The invalid value originates from platform or device topology rather than attacker-controlled SCSI data.
A host administrator can plausibly exercise initialization through driver loading, PCI binding, or reset. However, the supplied snippet does not establish whether an unprivileged storage workload can induce a recovery path that reruns this function. Therefore `HostAdminRequired=UNKNOWN` rather than assuming either host-admin-only or below-host-admin reachability.
The operation concerns a host PCI device and is not namespace-scoped. No network namespace or delegated capability path can instantiate the physical adapter or control its NUMA association. Prior availability of the mpt3sas adapter, high-I/O-queue mode, and missing PCI NUMA affinity is required. No timing race is involved.
4. Primitive and severity interpretation
The exact primitive is an internal out-of-bounds array read at index `-1`. The result is interpreted as a `cpumask` pointer and may be consumed by subsequent CPU-mask operations.
This is not stale storage, a lifetime violation, or a repeated release. `RealUAF=NO`. It is classified as `CLASS_C` because the demonstrated behavior is an invalid internal read with possible driver failure or kernel fault, without an independently useful disclosure or corruption primitive.
The demonstrated consequence is a UBSAN array-index violation. A kernel fault from later use of the invalid pointer is technically plausible but not shown as reliably attacker-controlled. Privilege escalation, disclosure, arbitrary write, and controlled memory corruption remain unsupported.
`ImportantCandidate=NO` because no Important-preserving primitive is established. `AutoDowngradeAllowed=YES` because the defect is constrained, lacks meaningful attacker control, and leaves no unresolved ownership, authorization, or lifetime primitive.
5. One-sentence report phrase
An unchecked NUMA_NO_NODE value causes mpt3sas to read a cpumask pointer outside node_to_cpumask_map, potentially producing invalid IRQ affinity or a kernel fault, but no disclosure, write primitive, or remote trigger is established.
6. Manual review recommendation
MANUAL CHECK RECOMMENDED
Review the downstream uses of `mask` and any recovery call sites to determine whether the invalid pointer can cause a host-wide crash and whether an unprivileged storage workload can retrigger queue assignment.
7. Call-site confidence
Call-site confidence: medium
======================================================================
UPSTREAM PATCH SUMMARY
======================================================================
Patch: scsi: mpt3sas: Avoid out-of-bounds cpumask_of_node() call in _base_assign_reply_queues() [ Upstream
Commit: 0a5f7cdb0cb911584720591069065f09c59ec4fc
Upstream URL: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/commit/?id=0a5f7cdb0cb911584720591069065f09c59ec4fc
Changed files:
arch/x86/include/asm/topology.h
drivers/scsi/mpt3sas/mpt3sas_base.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=0a5f7cdb0cb911584720591069065f09c59ec4fc
======================================================================
DETAILED REPORT METHODOLOGY
======================================================================
The original Linux kernel CVE announcement for CVE-2026-98088 can be found here:
https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-98088
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:L
The Best / paranoid CVSS vector: AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
The Best / paranoid CVSS score: 4.4
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: 0
Paranoid ActionableScore: 1
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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