Bug 2516732 (CVE-2026-68478)

Summary: CVE-2026-68478 kernel: memstick: ms_block: reject a card that reports too many blocks
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
Status: NEW --- QA Contact:
Severity: medium Docs Contact:
Priority: medium    
Version: unspecifiedCC: rhel-process-autobot, watson-tool-maintainers
Target Milestone: ---Keywords: Security
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Hardware: All   
OS: Linux   
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A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's Memory Stick block driver (`memstick: ms_block`). A malicious Memory Stick card, crafted to report an excessive number of blocks, can cause the driver to write beyond the bounds of an allocated memory structure. This out-of-bounds write can lead to memory corruption within the kernel, potentially resulting in a system crash or other unpredictable behavior.
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oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-08-15 06:28:13 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

memstick: ms_block: reject a card that reports too many blocks

msb_ftl_initialize() computes the zone count from the card block count
with no bound:

	msb->zone_count = msb->block_count / MS_BLOCKS_IN_ZONE;
	...
	for (i = 0; i < msb->zone_count; i++)
		msb->free_block_count[i] = MS_BLOCKS_IN_ZONE;

msb->block_count is a card value. msb_read_boot_blocks() reads
number_of_blocks from the card boot page and byte swaps it.
free_block_count is a fixed int[MS_MAX_ZONES]. MS_MAX_ZONES is 16, so the
valid indices are 0 to 15. The init loop above indexes it by zone_count.
msb_mark_block_used() and msb_mark_block_unused() index it by
pba / MS_BLOCKS_IN_ZONE, for pba up to block_count - 1. A card may report
up to 65535 blocks. A block_count above 8192 (MS_MAX_ZONES *
MS_BLOCKS_IN_ZONE) lets the pba index reach 16. That writes past
free_block_count[] and corrupts struct msb_data. A larger count runs the
init loop past the end too.

A real Memory Stick has at most 16 zones. So it has at most 8192 blocks.
msb_ftl_initialize() now rejects a card that reports more than
MS_MAX_ZONES * MS_BLOCKS_IN_ZONE blocks.