VulnerabilityPublished 25 Sep 2026Updated 21 Oct 2026

CVE-2026-97989: Linux kernel · vduse: validate virtqueue alignment

Affects Linux kernelSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · fixed in fa2c25b4add57888acfa89e398389e267bff3dcf : update Linux kernel when convenient.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 13:07 UTC

Severity

Unrated

Rated by Threat Radar · CVSS not yet scored by NVD

EPSS: 0.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 6% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in fa2c25b4add57888acfa89e398389e267bff3dcf, c3c3b0839a1197530cc18f535062fc84dbdfc885, 831dab9b9bcc184adf78f18b5b788316e3174aec +2

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 25 Sep 2026
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 26 Oct 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Upgrade to a fixed release listed under Affected software.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
LinuxLinux	Affected ≥ c8a6153b6c59d95c0e091f053f6f180952ade91e, < fa2c25b4add57888acfa89e398389e267bff3dcf	Fixed in fa2c25b4add57888acfa89e398389e267bff3dcf
LinuxLinux	Affected ≥ c8a6153b6c59d95c0e091f053f6f180952ade91e, < c3c3b0839a1197530cc18f535062fc84dbdfc885	Fixed in c3c3b0839a1197530cc18f535062fc84dbdfc885
LinuxLinux	Affected ≥ c8a6153b6c59d95c0e091f053f6f180952ade91e, < 831dab9b9bcc184adf78f18b5b788316e3174aec	Fixed in 831dab9b9bcc184adf78f18b5b788316e3174aec
LinuxLinux	Affected ≥ c8a6153b6c59d95c0e091f053f6f180952ade91e, < 650bac9c73d3b4d83be683028283654c05346556	Fixed in 650bac9c73d3b4d83be683028283654c05346556
LinuxLinux	Affected ≥ c8a6153b6c59d95c0e091f053f6f180952ade91e, < 5d4bdca17d87c90b1d888f8846a781a18aa453c9	Fixed in 5d4bdca17d87c90b1d888f8846a781a18aa453c9
LinuxLinux	Affected =5.15	Fixed in–

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: vduse: validate virtqueue alignment vduse_validate_config() only checks the upper bound of vq_align. Invalid values can therefore reach vring_create_virtqueue_map(). The split-ring helpers use align - 1 as a bit mask, so the alignment must be a non-zero power of two. A zero value makes vring_size() drop the descriptor and available-ring part and vring_init() leave the used ring pointer NULL. The VIRTIO spec requires the used ring to start at an address aligned to at least 4 bytes. Reject values below VRING_USED_ALIGN_SIZE as well as non-power-of-two values before they reach the virtio ring helpers. Opening a virtio-net device created with vq_align=0 triggered: BUG: KASAN: null-ptr-deref in virtqueue_kick_prepare_split+0xe3/0x100 Read of size 2 at addr 0000000000000000 by task systemd-network/1062 Call Trace (relevant frames): dump_stack_lvl print_report kasan_report __asan_load2 virtqueue_kick_prepare_split+0xe3/0x100 virtqueue_kick_prepare+0x40/0x60 try_fill_recv+0x857/0x1250 virtnet_open+0x189/0x460 __dev_open+0x225/0x390 __dev_change_flags+0x368/0x3b0 netif_change_flags+0x56/0xc0 do_setlink.isra.0+0x68c/0x1e30 Validate the value before it reaches the virtio ring helpers.

References

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