Bug 2396936 (CVE-2025-39840)

Summary: CVE-2025-39840 kernel: audit: fix out-of-bounds read in audit_compare_dname_path()
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
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Priority: medium    
Version: unspecifiedKeywords: Security
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OS: Linux   
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An out of bounds read exists in the linux kernel such that when a watch on dir=/ is combined with an fsnotify event for a single-character name directly under root an out-of-bounds read can occur in audit_compare_dname_path().
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2025-09-19 16:02:45 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

audit: fix out-of-bounds read in audit_compare_dname_path()

When a watch on dir=/ is combined with an fsnotify event for a
single-character name directly under / (e.g., creating /a), an
out-of-bounds read can occur in audit_compare_dname_path().

The helper parent_len() returns 1 for "/". In audit_compare_dname_path(),
when parentlen equals the full path length (1), the code sets p = path + 1
and pathlen = 1 - 1 = 0. The subsequent loop then dereferences
p[pathlen - 1] (i.e., p[-1]), causing an out-of-bounds read.

Fix this by adding a pathlen > 0 check to the while loop condition
to prevent the out-of-bounds access.

[PM: subject tweak, sign-off email fixes]

Comment 4 errata-xmlrpc 2026-01-12 04:42:27 UTC
This issue has been addressed in the following products:

  Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9

Via RHSA-2026:0445 https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:0445

Comment 5 errata-xmlrpc 2026-01-12 09:10:46 UTC
This issue has been addressed in the following products:

  Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10

Via RHSA-2026:0453 https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:0453