Bug 2479815 (CVE-2026-43492)

Summary: CVE-2026-43492 kernel: lib/crypto: mpi: Fix integer underflow in mpi_read_raw_from_sgl()
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security <prodsec-ir-bot>
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Priority: medium    
Version: unspecifiedCC: rhel-process-autobot, watson-tool-maintainers
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Hardware: All   
OS: Linux   
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A flaw was found in the Linux kernel. A local user could trigger an integer underflow in the mpi_read_raw_from_sgl() function within the lib/crypto: mpi component. This occurs when invoking a KEYCTL_PKEY_ENCRYPT system call with a larger output length than input length and providing a zero-filled input buffer. Successful exploitation leads to a Denial of Service (DoS) due to the kernel spinning indefinitely.
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-05-19 12:01:33 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

lib/crypto: mpi: Fix integer underflow in mpi_read_raw_from_sgl()

Yiming reports an integer underflow in mpi_read_raw_from_sgl() when
subtracting "lzeros" from the unsigned "nbytes".

For this to happen, the scatterlist "sgl" needs to occupy more bytes
than the "nbytes" parameter and the first "nbytes + 1" bytes of the
scatterlist must be zero.  Under these conditions, the while loop
iterating over the scatterlist will count more zeroes than "nbytes",
subtract the number of zeroes from "nbytes" and cause the underflow.

When commit 2d4d1eea540b ("lib/mpi: Add mpi sgl helpers") originally
introduced the bug, it couldn't be triggered because all callers of
mpi_read_raw_from_sgl() passed a scatterlist whose length was equal to
"nbytes".

However since commit 63ba4d67594a ("KEYS: asymmetric: Use new crypto
interface without scatterlists"), the underflow can now actually be
triggered.  When invoking a KEYCTL_PKEY_ENCRYPT system call with a
larger "out_len" than "in_len" and filling the "in" buffer with zeroes,
crypto_akcipher_sync_prep() will create an all-zero scatterlist used for
both the "src" and "dst" member of struct akcipher_request and thereby
fulfil the conditions to trigger the bug:

  sys_keyctl()
    keyctl_pkey_e_d_s()
      asymmetric_key_eds_op()
        software_key_eds_op()
          crypto_akcipher_sync_encrypt()
            crypto_akcipher_sync_prep()
              crypto_akcipher_encrypt()
                rsa_enc()
                  mpi_read_raw_from_sgl()

To the user this will be visible as a DoS as the kernel spins forever,
causing soft lockup splats as a side effect.

Fix it.