From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: AL-KERNEL To: kernel-cve@kernelcve.org Subject: [CVE-2026-80779][MODERATE 7.0] net/ionic: avoid OOB TX partner lookup for hwstamp RXQ Date: Fri, 04 Sep 2026 11:57:30 -0400 Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-AL-KERNEL-CVE: CVE-2026-80779 X-AL-KERNEL-Priority: MODERATE 7.0 X-AL-KERNEL-Severity: MODERATE 7.0 X-AL-KERNEL-Base-Severity: MODERATE X-AL-KERNEL-KPANIC: NO X-AL-KERNEL-ActionableScore: 5 X-AL-KERNEL-ActionableScore-Lower: 3 X-AL-KERNEL-Commit: 881a805a8029ba48c0ce81c6674910f8d83f7afb List-Id: CVE: CVE-2026-80779 Priority: MODERATE 7.0 AL-KERNEL base severity: MODERATE KPANIC flag: NO Patch: net/ionic: avoid OOB TX partner lookup for hwstamp RXQ Commit: 881a805a8029ba48c0ce81c6674910f8d83f7afb Upstream patch: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/commit/?id=881a805a8029ba48c0ce81c6674910f8d83f7afb Original CVE announcement: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-80779 Analysis date: Fri, 04 Sep 2026 11:57:30 -0400 ActionableScore: 5 ActionableScore lower bound: 3 Actionable bucket: Actionable Moderate at minimum Manual review required: YES Summary: No one-sentence report phrase was found. ====================================================================== ABOUT THIS REPORT ====================================================================== The original Linux kernel CVE announcement for CVE-2026-80779 is available here: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-80779 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 7.0 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-2026-80779 MODERATE https://www.kernelcve.org/list/?q=CVE-2026-80779 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:H/I:H/A:H';CWE-125;*CWE-787;CWE-129;Other CVSS 'AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:H';BEST CVSS score: '7';DESCR 'The ionic driver can perform an out of bounds TX queue partner lookup when initializing the dedicated hardware timestamp RX queue. The hwstamp RX queue uses an index equal to the number of normal RX queues, while the txqcqs array only contains normal TX queue pairs, so the old code could read one element past txqcqs and then write through the derived queue pointer. For the CVSS the PR:L is used in the paranoid score because a non root local actor with delegated network administration, a service account, or container root controlling the device may be able to trigger queue reconfiguration or reset paths. The issue is not directly network reachable because packet traffic alone does not configure the RXQ partner relationship. Impact is at least denial of service and plausibly memory corruption with confidentiality and integrity risk, so this should be reviewed manually.';YES REQUIRES MANUAL CHECK; ,and ActionableScore result is Actionable Moderate at minimum (with actual score 4) YES REMOTE OOB ERRORPATH NETWORK HARDWARE INCREASED_TO_HIGH_BASED_ON_GUESSCVSS DECREASED_TO_MODERATE70_BASED_ON_ACTIONABLESCORELOWERTHAN5 DECREASED_TO_MODERATEREG_BASED_ON_FALSEPOSCHECKOFKP YES NO checked ====================================================================== ACTIONABLESCORE ANALYSIS ====================================================================== ActionableScore=5 ActionableScoreLower=3 ### 1. ActionableScore * Conservative score: 3 * Paranoid score: 5 * Final recommended bucket: **Actionable Moderate at minimum**:: ### 2. Signal breakdown Conservative signals: * Memory corruption, weak/indirect corruption candidate: +1. The patch describes an out-of-bounds lookup in `txqcqs[]` and then a write through the derived pointer. * Privileged kernel/device-management memory corruption path: +1. The corruption happens in a NIC driver queue initialization path, a trusted kernel/device-management context. * Reliable kernel crash / strong DoS: +1. A bogus queue partner pointer can plausibly lead to an immediate kernel crash during initialization or later XDP_TX processing. * Requires admin/root/CAP_NET_ADMIN in typical deployments: -2. Reliable triggering normally requires control over driver/device configuration, queue setup, XDP, hw timestamping, or reset paths. * Device-specific exposure: -1. This is limited to the Pensando/AMD ionic driver and the dedicated hardware timestamp RXQ configuration. Paranoid additional interpretation: * Weak LPE concern: +1. The bug is not just an invalid read. It reads an out-of-bounds queue pointer and performs a write through it, which is a plausible corruption sink even without a demonstrated reclaim or arbitrary write primitive. * Firmware/device-mediated influence: +1. Queue topology and hw timestamp queue availability are partly device/firmware mediated, so malformed or unusual device state may influence reachability. * Reduced-privilege deployment concern: +1. In environments with delegated network administration, container root, or service accounts managing NIC/XDP state, PR may be closer to PR:L than full host-root. ### 3. Reachability analysis The likely trigger is local and tied to driver/device setup paths, especially hardware timestamp RXQ allocation combined with normal TX queue partner initialization. It is not directly network reachable because packet traffic alone does not create the RX/TX partner relationship. In typical deployments, an attacker would need administrative or delegated network-management privileges, such as CAP_NET_ADMIN or control over a service that configures the NIC. Namespaces or containers matter if a reduced-privilege actor can manage the affected physical device or its XDP/hw timestamp configuration. The path is not a broad default networking core path, but the corruption occurs in a real NIC driver and includes a write through an out-of-bounds-derived pointer. ### 4. Severity interpretation This is more serious than an ordinary Moderate crash-only bug because the patch explicitly describes an out-of-bounds array access followed by a write through the derived pointer. Realistic exploitation as privilege escalation is not demonstrated and the primitive appears constrained, kernel-derived, and device-specific. Conservatively it is a privileged/local driver DoS with weak corruption. Paranoid triage should keep it as Actionable Moderate because the corruption sink is concrete enough to require manual review, but not enough to classify as a strong Important candidate without more evidence of attacker-controlled target selection, reclaim, type confusion, or arbitrary write. ### 5. One-sentence report phrase The ionic driver can perform an out of bounds TX queue partner lookup for a hardware timestamp RX queue and then write through the derived pointer, making this at least a local privileged DoS and a weak memory corruption candidate requiring manual review. ### 6. Manual review recommendation MANUAL CHECK REQUIRED Reason: the patch shows an OOB lookup followed by a write through the resulting pointer. This is a concrete corruption sink, even though practical LPE is not proven and triggering likely requires privileged or delegated device-management access. ====================================================================== UPSTREAM PATCH SUMMARY ====================================================================== Patch: net/ionic: avoid OOB TX partner lookup for hwstamp RXQ Commit: 881a805a8029ba48c0ce81c6674910f8d83f7afb Upstream URL: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/commit/?id=881a805a8029ba48c0ce81c6674910f8d83f7afb Commit description: The dedicated hardware timestamp RX queue is allocated with q->index equal to lif->ionic->nrxqs_per_lif. The normal txqcqs array only contains the regular queue pairs, so using that index to set rxq->partner can read one entry past txqcqs[] and then write through the derived pointer. Only link RX/TX partners for normal queue-pair indexes. Leave the hwstamp RX queue unpaired, and make the XDP_TX path abort cleanly if an RX queue has no TX partner. Fixes: 8eeed83 ("ionic: Add XDP_TX support") Reviewed-by: Si-Wei Liu Reviewed-by: Shannon Nelson Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org Signed-off-by: Anand Khoje Reviewed-by: Simon Horman Reviewed-by: Brett Creeley Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20260813083705.454897-1-anand.a.khoje@oracle.com Signed-off-by: Paolo Abeni Signed-off-by: Greg Kroah-Hartman Changed files: drivers/net/ethernet/pensando/ionic/ionic_lif.c drivers/net/ethernet/pensando/ionic/ionic_txrx.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=881a805a8029ba48c0ce81c6674910f8d83f7afb ====================================================================== DETAILED REPORT METHODOLOGY ====================================================================== The original Linux kernel CVE announcement for CVE-2026-80779 can be found here: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-80779 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:L/I:L/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: 3 Paranoid ActionableScore: 5 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 7.0 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).