Bug 2521397 (CVE-2026-74671)

Summary: CVE-2026-74671 kernel: ima: fix out-of-bounds read in xattr_verify()
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
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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 Integrity Measurement Architecture (IMA) subsystem. The `xattr_verify()` function, which verifies extended attributes, incorrectly mixes `int` and `size_t` data types in its digest-length check. This can lead to an integer underflow when processing a truncated extended attribute, bypassing a bounds check. As a result, a memory comparison operation reads beyond the allocated buffer, causing an out-of-bounds read that could lead to information disclosure or system instability.
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-08-22 15:43:32 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

ima: fix out-of-bounds read in xattr_verify()

The digest-length check in xattr_verify() mixes int and size_t:

	if (xattr_len - sizeof(xattr_value->type) - hash_start >=
			iint->ima_hash->length)

sizeof() yields size_t, so the usual arithmetic conversions promote
the whole left-hand side to unsigned 64-bit before the subtraction
runs. For a truncated xattr this underflows instead of going negative:
a 1-byte IMA_XATTR_DIGEST_NG xattr (xattr_len == 1, hash_start == 1)
turns "1 - 1 - 1" into SIZE_MAX, which is trivially >= ima_hash->length.
The check then passes and the following memcmp() reads
iint->ima_hash->length bytes starting past the end of the buffer
vfs_getxattr_alloc() allocated for it.

Nothing upstream clamps xattr_len back into a safe range first:
ima_get_hash_algo() only special-cases xattr_len < 2 to pick a default
algorithm, and evm_verifyxattr() returns INTEGRITY_UNKNOWN rather than
failing when no HMAC key is loaded, so a truncated security.ima value
reaches the length check as-is.

Rewrite the comparison so every operand stays a signed int and no
implicit conversion to size_t can occur.

Comment 1 Mauro Matteo Cascella 2026-08-24 10:52:06 UTC
Upstream advisory:
https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/2026082229-CVE-2026-74671-bdc4@gregkh/T