[CVE-2026-72088][MODERATE REGULAR] scsi: hpsa: Fix DMA mapping leak on IOACCEL2 reset path

[CVE-2026-72088][MODERATE REGULAR] scsi: hpsa: Fix DMA mapping leak on IOACCEL2 reset path

[AL-KERNEL]

CVE: CVE-2026-72088
Priority: MODERATE REGULAR
AL-KERNEL base severity: MODERATE
KPANIC flag: NO
Patch: scsi: hpsa: Fix DMA mapping leak on IOACCEL2 reset path
Commit: fca5edd748f00e87f2dd55a6333722b46af30e74
Upstream patch: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/commit/?id=fca5edd748f00e87f2dd55a6333722b46af30e74
Original CVE announcement: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-72088
Analysis date: Sat, 15 Aug 2026 20:54:43 -0400
ActionableScore: 3
ActionableScore lower bound: 2
Actionable bucket: Ordinary Moderate / Low-like, with limited Actionable Moderate concern only in repeated reset scenarios
Manual review required: NO

Summary:
The hpsa IOACCEL2 reset path can return without unmapping DMA resources or decrementing the outstanding command count, allowing repeated I/O during reset to cause a DMA mapping and accounting leak that may lead to storage availability loss.

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ABOUT THIS REPORT
======================================================================

The original Linux kernel CVE announcement for CVE-2026-72088 is available here:
https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-72088

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.

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AL-KERNEL CLASSIFICATION RESULT
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CVE-2026-72088	MODERATE	CHECK WITH IMPACT FROM ORIG NN LOW	Maybe valid. Check manually. Hints by AL-KERNEL: The best (paranoid) CVSS is 'AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H';*CWE-772;*CWE-401;**CWE-400;Other CVSS 'AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L';BEST CVSS score: '4.7';DESCR 'The hpsa IOACCEL2 reset path can return while leaving DMA mappings and an outstanding IOACCEL command reference behind. This is a resource cleanup bug rather than a demonstrated memory corruption primitive. Repeated I/O during device reset may exhaust DMA mapping resources or leave the controller recovery path stuck, causing denial of service. For the CVSS the PR:L is used because a local user or process that can generate storage I/O on the affected device may reach the vulnerable path when reset is in progress, although reliable reset control may require administrative capability or a fault condition. The issue is not network reachable. Impact is primarily availability loss. For the paranoid score, the highest still defensible interpretation is C:N/I:N/A:H due to sustained resource exhaustion, while staying within the resource leak class.';NO MANUAL CHECK; ,and ActionableScore result is Ordinary Moderate / Low-like, with limited Actionable Moderate concern only in repeated reset scenarios (with actual score 3)	YES	SIMPLEFIX LEAK DMAorINTERRUPT HARDWARE  INCREASED_FROM_LOW_TO_MODERATE70_BASED_ON_ACTIONABLESCOREHIGHEREQTHAN3 DECREASED_TO_MODERATEREG_BASED_ON_ACTIONABLESCORELESSTHAN5	NO	NO	checked

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ACTIONABLESCORE ANALYSIS
======================================================================

ActionableScore=3
ActionableScoreLower=2

## 1. ActionableScore

* Conservative score: 2
* Paranoid score: 3
* Final recommended bucket: **Ordinary Moderate / Low-like, with limited Actionable Moderate concern only in repeated reset scenarios**::

## 2. Signal breakdown

* Local unprivileged trigger: +1
  A local user that can generate storage I/O on an affected hpsa-backed disk may reach the queue path, but reliable triggering also depends on the device being in reset.

* Firmware-mediated external influence: +1
  The vulnerable branch depends on `phys_disk->in_reset`, which may be caused by controller, firmware, or device reset conditions rather than directly by normal user input.

* Important filesystem/storage path: +1
  The bug is in a SCSI storage controller I/O path and can affect block device availability.

* Availability impact realistic: +1 in paranoid scoring only
  Repeated hits during reset may leak DMA mappings and outstanding IOACCEL accounting, potentially exhausting resources or leaving recovery stuck.

* Hard or unreliable race / special timing required: -1
  The leak occurs only when I/O reaches this path while the physical disk is already in reset.

* Physical-only or rare hardware-only condition: -1
  The issue is specific to the hpsa driver and IOACCEL2 reset behavior on supported storage controller hardware.

* No generic memory corruption: +0
  The patch fixes missing cleanup via `atomic_dec`, `scsi_dma_unmap`, and SG-chain unmap. It does not show UAF, OOB write, double-free, type confusion, arbitrary write, or page-cache corruption.

## 3. Reachability analysis

A local process may contribute by generating I/O to an affected hpsa-backed disk, but the vulnerable path requires a concurrent or pre-existing device reset. In typical deployments, direct reset control is administrative or hardware/firmware driven, so exploitation is not a simple unprivileged local trigger. Namespaces or containers do not materially improve reachability unless they can issue meaningful storage I/O to the affected host device. The path is not network reachable and requires specific hpsa hardware and IOACCEL2 behavior.

## 4. Severity interpretation

This behaves primarily like an ordinary Moderate or Low-like resource cleanup bug. The realistic impact is resource leakage leading to degraded storage availability or reset recovery problems. There is no demonstrated memory corruption primitive and no plausible privilege escalation path from the supplied patch. The paranoid score only raises availability concern for repeated triggering during reset, while staying within the resource leak class.

## 5. One-sentence report phrase

The hpsa IOACCEL2 reset path can return without unmapping DMA resources or decrementing the outstanding command count, allowing repeated I/O during reset to cause a DMA mapping and accounting leak that may lead to storage availability loss.

## 6. Manual review recommendation

NO MANUAL CHECK NEEDED

This can be handled as a resource leak / DoS issue unless the affected product has unusual exposure where untrusted users can reliably force hpsa device resets.

======================================================================
UPSTREAM PATCH SUMMARY
======================================================================

Patch: scsi: hpsa: Fix DMA mapping leak on IOACCEL2 reset path
Commit: fca5edd748f00e87f2dd55a6333722b46af30e74
Upstream URL: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/commit/?id=fca5edd748f00e87f2dd55a6333722b46af30e74

Commit description:

If phys_disk->in_reset is set, the function returns directly without
undoing the resources acquired for the command. Add the missing error
cleanup by unmapping the IOACCEL2 SG chain block when needed, unmapping
the SCSI command, and dropping the outstanding IOACCEL command count
before returning.

Fixes: c5dfd10 ("scsi: hpsa: correct device resets")
Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
Signed-off-by: Haoxiang Li <haoxiang_li2024@163.com>
Acked-by: Don Brace <don.brace@microchip.com>
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20260622160028.1240496-1-haoxiang_li2024@163.com
Signed-off-by: Martin K. Petersen <martin.petersen@oracle.com>
Signed-off-by: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org>

Changed files:
  drivers/scsi/hpsa.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=fca5edd748f00e87f2dd55a6333722b46af30e74

======================================================================
DETAILED REPORT METHODOLOGY
======================================================================

The original Linux kernel CVE announcement for CVE-2026-72088 can be found here:
https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-72088

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:L
  The Best / paranoid CVSS vector: AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
  The Best / paranoid CVSS score: 4.7

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: 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 alexanjelausa@gmail.com (and both
send reply to CVE record itself too and see "reply" button below for howto reply).