CyberSecBulletin
CVE-2026-43197NVD status: Modified

Linux: Out-of-bounds Read

Published Updated By the CyberSecBulletin desk

CVE-2026-43197 is a critical-severity out-of-bounds read vulnerability in Linux, with a CVSS 3.1 base score of 9.1 out of 10. It can be exploited remotely over the network by an unauthenticated attacker, without any action from a user. The record lists versions 68fe91df6ea822dae772fceaad0686e4f5839aec, 8fe132c4873f9eb1b86ddbf31216e9d961a0b8b9, 3126a2f98beaec5a554a1fb31c46db1e8542665e as the first without the flaw, so updating Linux to one of those releases or later removes the exposure. There is no confirmed exploitation so far. EPSS estimates a 0.58% chance of exploitation within 30 days, which is low compared with other CVEs.

Patch this week

Critical severity: a successful attack would have severe impact.

What to do

  1. Update Linux to 68fe91df6ea822dae772fceaad0686e4f5839aec or 8fe132c4873f9eb1b86ddbf31216e9d961a0b8b9 or 3126a2f98beaec5a554a1fb31c46db1e8542665e or 74ab1456eaa3b2eb986138f9e1f4cb37e73b6f58, whichever matches your release line, or a later version.
  2. Update Linux Kernel to 6.18.16 or 6.19.6, whichever matches your release line, or a later version.
  3. Until you can update, restrict network access to the affected service so it is not reachable from untrusted networks.

Affected products and versions

VendorProductAffected versionsFixed in
LinuxLinuxc62c0a17f9b7398022f9eebe547878033264f81f up to, but not including, 68fe91df6ea822dae772fceaad0686e4f5839aec; c62c0a17f9b7398022f9eebe547878033264f81f up to, but not including, 8fe132c4873f9eb1b86ddbf31216e9d961a0b8b9; c62c0a17f9b7398022f9eebe547878033264f81f up to, but not including, 3126a2f98beaec5a554a1fb31c46db1e8542665e; c62c0a17f9b7398022f9eebe547878033264f81f up to, but not including, 74ab1456eaa3b2eb986138f9e1f4cb37e73b6f58; c62c0a17f9b7398022f9eebe547878033264f81f up to, but not including, 82aec772fca2223bc5774bd9af486fd95766e578; 6.668fe91df6ea822dae772fceaad0686e4f5839aec, 8fe132c4873f9eb1b86ddbf31216e9d961a0b8b9, 3126a2f98beaec5a554a1fb31c46db1e8542665e, 74ab1456eaa3b2eb986138f9e1f4cb37e73b6f58, 82aec772fca2223bc5774bd9af486fd95766e578
LinuxLinux Kernel6.6 up to, but not including, 6.18.16; 6.19 up to, but not including, 6.19.6; 7.06.18.16, 6.19.6

Version data comes from the organisation that assigned the CVE. Confirm against the vendor advisory before deciding you are unaffected.

How the severity score breaks down

Attack vector
NetworkCan be exploited remotely over a network, including the internet.
Attack complexity
LowNo special conditions are needed; the attack works reliably.
Privileges required
NoneNo account or login is needed.
User interaction
NoneNo action by a victim is required.
Scope
UnchangedImpact stays within the vulnerable component.
Confidentiality
HighAll data handled by the component can be read.
Integrity
NoneNothing can be modified.
Availability
HighThe component can be taken down completely.

Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:H. Scored by CNA.

Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: netconsole: avoid OOB reads, msg is not nul-terminated msg passed to netconsole from the console subsystem is not guaranteed to be nul-terminated. Before recent commit 7eab73b18630 ("netconsole: convert to NBCON console infrastructure") the message would be placed in printk_shared_pbufs, a static global buffer, so KASAN had harder time catching OOB accesses. Now we see: printk: console [netcon_ext0] enabled BUG: KASAN: slab-out-of-bounds in string+0x1f7/0x240 Read of size 1 at addr ffff88813b6d4c00 by task pr/netcon_ext0/594 CPU: 65 UID: 0 PID: 594 Comm: pr/netcon_ext0 Not tainted 6.19.0-11754-g4246fd6547c9 Call Trace: kasan_report+0xe4/0x120 string+0x1f7/0x240 vsnprintf+0x655/0xba0 scnprintf+0xba/0x120 netconsole_write+0x3fe/0xa10 nbcon_emit_next_record+0x46e/0x860 nbcon_kthread_func+0x623/0x750 Allocated by task 1: nbcon_alloc+0x1ea/0x450 register_console+0x26b/0xe10 init_netconsole+0xbb0/0xda0 The buggy address belongs to the object at ffff88813b6d4000 which belongs to the cache kmalloc-4k of size 4096 The buggy address is located 0 bytes to the right of allocated 3072-byte region [ffff88813b6d4000, ffff88813b6d4c00)

Source: the CVE record as published by its numbering authority, via NVD and CVE.org.

The underlying weakness: Out-of-bounds Read

The product reads data past the end, or before the beginning, of the intended buffer.

How developers prevent this class of flaw

  • Use a language that provides appropriate memory abstractions.

More Out-of-bounds Read vulnerabilities (CWE-125)

Timeline

  1. CVE record published.
  2. CISA published its SSVC assessment (exploitation: none, automatable: yes, technical impact: partial).
  3. Record last changed materially (score, affected products, status or references).

References

Recent Out-of-bounds Read vulnerabilities

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