From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: AL-KERNEL To: kernel-cve@kernelcve.org Subject: [CVE-2026-98658][MODERATE REGULAR] iio: proximity: aw96103: validate firmware data length Date: Sat, 24 Oct 2026 03:55:06 -0400 Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-AL-KERNEL-CVE: CVE-2026-98658 X-AL-KERNEL-Priority: MODERATE REGULAR X-AL-KERNEL-Severity: MODERATE REGULAR X-AL-KERNEL-Base-Severity: MODERATE X-AL-KERNEL-KPANIC: NO X-AL-KERNEL-ActionableScore: 0 X-AL-KERNEL-ActionableScore-Lower: unknown X-AL-KERNEL-Commit: 4a9b9f2d4e26589afd0ac099c8e5593170dd5ac7 List-Id: CVE: CVE-2026-98658 Priority: MODERATE REGULAR AL-KERNEL base severity: MODERATE KPANIC flag: NO Patch: iio: proximity: aw96103: validate firmware data length Commit: 4a9b9f2d4e26589afd0ac099c8e5593170dd5ac7 Upstream patch: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/commit/?id=4a9b9f2d4e26589afd0ac099c8e5593170dd5ac7 Original CVE announcement: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-98658 Analysis date: Sat, 24 Oct 2026 03:55:06 -0400 ActionableScore: 0 ActionableScore lower bound: unknown Actionable bucket: Ordinary Moderate Manual review required: NO Summary: Malformed AW96103 firmware can drive repeated heap OOB reads and a plausible kernel fault, without a demonstrated disclosure or kernel-memory write. ====================================================================== ABOUT THIS REPORT ====================================================================== The original Linux kernel CVE announcement for CVE-2026-98658 is available here: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-98658 The original announcement does not normally provide a security severity estimate, CVSS assessment, or enough information to determine whether the reported kernel bug represents a practically relevant security issue. This report was generated by AL-KERNEL, an AI-assisted Linux kernel vulnerability analysis system developed by Alexander Larkin. It combines an autonomous classifier with LLM-assisted technical analysis and a separate ActionableScore mechanism. The purpose of this report is to prioritize Linux kernel CVEs before manual review, identify cases that require prompt investigation, and support automatic closure of issues that are unlikely to have meaningful security impact. Published priority for this report: MODERATE REGULAR Manual review required: NO A detailed explanation of the methodology and priority rules is included at the end of this message. ====================================================================== AL-KERNEL CLASSIFICATION RESULT ====================================================================== CVE-2026-98658 MODERATE https://www.kernelcve.org/list/?q=CVE-2026-98658 CHECK WITH IMPACT FROM ORIG NN MODERATE | AEGIS IMPACT MODERATE_KPANIC AEGIS_AS=1 LEGACY=MODERATE RESULT=DIFF (final Legacy and Aegis differ; FINAL: MODERATE, Aegis: MODERATE_KPANIC) Maybe valid. Check manually. Hints by AL-KERNEL: The best (paranoid) CVSS is 'AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:H';CWE-125;CWE-191;*CWE-20;Other CVSS 'AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H';BEST CVSS score: '5.6';DESCR 'The AW96103 firmware parser trusted a little endian length from the binary header and used it to process six byte register and value entries without proving that the payload remained inside the copied firmware buffer. A value below the four byte count size underflows into a very large length, while a truncated or inconsistent image can cause repeated out of bounds reads and potentially a kernel fault. The demonstrated primitive is an out of bounds read rather than an out of bounds write or UAF. Adjacent heap data may also be interpreted as device register data, but direct information disclosure or kernel memory modification is not established. For the CVSS the PR:H value is used because reliable triggering normally requires installing or replacing the device firmware file, which generally requires administrative control. The issue is local and is not directly network reachable. Automated impact decision path. The original SimpleNet classifier selected MODERATE_KPANIC. The primary LLM estimated paranoid CVSS 5.6 and the production ActionableScore returned 0 with recommendation Ordinary Moderate. The production rules then evaluated CVSS thresholds and ActionableScore thresholds. Recorded rule transitions were ActionableScore thresholds stage MODERATE_KPANIC to MODERATE because the ActionableScore threshold rule was applied. The legacy KP specialist has no review artifact for this run. The legacy FD or DH downgrade specialist has no review artifact for this run. Exact triggered rule markers were DECREASED_TO_MODERATEREG_BASED_ON_ACTIONABLESCORELESSTHAN4 and V41_INHERITED_KPANIC_PROMOTION_BLOCKED and MANUAL_REVIEW_REQUIRED. The independent weaker Aegis shadow evaluated CVSS 2.3 and ActionableScore 1 with primitive class CLASS_C and manual review REQUIRED. Its independently reconciled impact was MODERATE_KPANIC. The models disagreed but the aggregation rules retained the production result. The final reported impact is MODERATE.';YES REQUIRES MANUAL CHECK; ,and ActionableScore result is Ordinary Moderate (with actual score 0) MAYBE OOB LINUS DECREASED_TO_MODERATEREG_BASED_ON_ACTIONABLESCORELESSTHAN4 V41_INHERITED_KPANIC_PROMOTION_BLOCKED MANUAL_REVIEW_REQUIRED - - checked ====================================================================== ACTIONABLESCORE ANALYSIS ====================================================================== ActionableScore=0 PrimitiveClass=CLASS_C RealUAF=NO HostAdminRequired=UNKNOWN NamespaceScopedPrivilege=NO ImportantCandidate=NO ManualReview=RECOMMENDED AutoDowngradeAllowed=YES RequiresHostUID0=UNKNOWN AuthorizationDecisionBypass=NO ProtectedResourceImpact=NONE B4PendingReview=NO B4PendingConfirmed=NO 1. ActionableScore * Raw base score: 0. * Conservative score: 0; no floor or cap applied. * Raw paranoid score: 0. * Paranoid score: 0; no separate defensible stronger primitive. * Final recommended bucket: **Ordinary Moderate**:: 2. Signal breakdown * +1 limited heap out-of-bounds read: unchecked `valid_data_len` lets the six-byte parser read beyond `aw_bin->data`. * +1 plausible kernel crash: underflow can create a very large loop bound and eventually access invalid memory. * -2 uncommon hardware-specific path: execution is tied to an AW96103/AW96105 proximity-sensor driver and its firmware-loading path. * No confidentiality point: adjacent heap bytes are interpreted internally as register/value data, but no read-back or disclosure path is shown. * No integrity point: subsequent device register writes may use unintended values, but no protected kernel state or cross-authority data is shown modified. * NEW52/B5-R does not apply: there is no confirmed heap OOB write, retry-accumulated index, or corrupted kernel state consumer. * No UAF, controlled reclaim, arbitrary write, authorization bypass, or extra availability effect is shown. 3. Reachability analysis Triggering requires supplying a malformed device firmware image to the driver. The evidence says this generally requires administrative control, but does not establish the exact firmware provisioning interface or prove host-admin-only triggering; therefore `HostAdminRequired=UNKNOWN` and `RequiresHostUID0=UNKNOWN`. No namespace-scoped operation, remote path, race, or retry sequence is present. Compatible physical hardware is materially required. 4. Primitive and severity reading The exact primitive is a heap-buffer OOB read caused by unchecked truncation, subtraction underflow, and failure to require complete six-byte entries. Read values can reach device-register operations, but the patch does not show a kernel-memory write, disclosure, protected-resource modification, or host-wide effect beyond a plausible fault. This is CLASS_C rather than B5-R or an Important-preserving corruption primitive. Auto-downgrade remains allowed because the demonstrated behavior is constrained and no material unknown cross-boundary primitive remains. 5. One-sentence report phrase Malformed AW96103 firmware can drive repeated heap OOB reads and a plausible kernel fault, without a demonstrated disclosure or kernel-memory write. 6. Manual review advice MANUAL CHECK RECOMMENDED Confirm the actual firmware-supply permissions and whether unintended device-register programming can cause effects beyond a device-local malfunction. 7. Call-site confidence Call-site confidence: high ====================================================================== UPSTREAM PATCH SUMMARY ====================================================================== Patch: iio: proximity: aw96103: validate firmware data length Commit: 4a9b9f2d4e26589afd0ac099c8e5593170dd5ac7 Upstream URL: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/commit/?id=4a9b9f2d4e26589afd0ac099c8e5593170dd5ac7 Commit description: The firmware parser reads a length from the binary header and then uses it to walk six-byte register/value entries. A truncated firmware image can make the parser read beyond the copied firmware buffer. A value smaller than the four-byte count field also underflows, producing a very large length. Read the little-endian field with get_unaligned_le32(), as previously proposed by David Lechner. Validate the header size, reject an underflowed length, ensure the resulting payload is contained in the firmware image, and require it to contain whole register/value entries. Fixes: 07b2412 ("iio: proximity: aw96103: Add support for aw96103/aw96105 proximity sensor") Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20260314-iio-proximity-aw96103-fix-firmware-read-v1-1-c74fe9ccd82b@baylibre.com Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org Signed-off-by: Laxman Acharya Padhya Signed-off-by: Jonathan Cameron Signed-off-by: Greg Kroah-Hartman Changed files: drivers/iio/proximity/aw96103.c Diff excerpt: Not included in this email. See the upstream URL for the full patch. Full patch: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/commit/?id=4a9b9f2d4e26589afd0ac099c8e5593170dd5ac7 ====================================================================== DETAILED REPORT METHODOLOGY ====================================================================== The original Linux kernel CVE announcement for CVE-2026-98658 can be found here: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-98658 The original CVE announcement normally does not include a security-level estimate. In particular, it may not contain a CVSS assessment, an impact level, or enough information to determine whether the reported bug is a practically relevant security issue. One purpose of this parallel CVE list is to provide that missing technical and prioritization information. The original goal of the AL-KERNEL project was to prioritize Linux kernel CVE analysis automatically before manual review. The system can also help identify non-security issues that may be suitable for automatic closure. This report was generated by AL-KERNEL, an AI-assisted Linux kernel vulnerability analysis system developed by Alexander Larkin. The first analysis stage combines an autonomous classifier with additional LLM-based analysis. The autonomous classifier runs locally on a CPU and is based on a backpropagation neural network. Together, these mechanisms produce a technical vulnerability description, identify likely weakness types, estimate CVSS severity, and provide input for ActionableScore. Two CVSS estimates are retained because incomplete kernel vulnerability information often permits more than one defensible interpretation: Conservative CVSS vector: AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H The Best / paranoid CVSS vector: AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:H The Best / paranoid CVSS score: 5.6 The conservative vector represents a lower-impact interpretation. The Best/paranoid vector intentionally represents a plausible upper-bound interpretation and should not automatically be treated as demonstrated real-world impact. CVSS may also need to be adjusted for a particular Linux deployment, because actual reachability, privileges, enabled kernel configuration, hardware, namespaces, exposed device nodes, and other environmental conditions can differ significantly between systems. A separate ActionableScore mechanism evaluates practical remediation urgency. Its analysis may include reachability, attack prerequisites, subsystem exposure, memory-corruption characteristics, denial-of-service reliability, and possible confidentiality, integrity, or privilege-escalation impact. Conservative ActionableScore: unknown Paranoid ActionableScore: 0 The final base severity is taken directly from the second tab-separated field of the AL-KERNEL classification result. ActionableScore does not replace or independently override that final AL-KERNEL decision, and if ActionableScore adjusted impact level of ALKERNEL, then you would see self-readable flags above like INCREASED_TO_HIGH_BASED_ON_ACTIONABLESCOREHIGHEREQTHAN7. For an AL-KERNEL result of MODERATE, this report uses the following additional presentation split: ActionableScore below 5 -> MODERATE REGULAR ActionableScore 5 or more -> MODERATE 7.0 The distinction between MODERATE REGULAR and MODERATE 7.0 makes it possible to identify Moderate issues that should receive manual analysis and fixes before lower-priority MODERATE REGULAR issues. In many cases, MODERATE REGULAR fixes may wait for a later rebase or routine update. There is one override in which MODERATE REGULAR becomes MODERATE 7.0 even when the ActionableScore is below 5. When the AL-KERNEL result contains the KPANIC flag, a MODERATE result is always presented as MODERATE 7.0. The KPANIC flag selected with few regexps without usage of AI at all, so it helps to detect cases when Kernel Crash happens and similar (to filter False-Negative results from the LLM usage). KPANIC indicates that a reliable kernel crash, kernel panic, or similarly serious kernel availability impact was identified by the classification workflow. AL-KERNEL base severity for this report: MODERATE KPANIC detected for this report: NO Published priority for this report (same as in Subject): MODERATE REGULAR These results are intended to support engineering triage. They are machine-generated estimates, and cases marked for manual review should be validated by a human security engineer before final disposition. For more info read docs linked from here: https://kernelcve.org/ (and you can submit you own patch there to generate such a report for non-existant CVE-id yet). Note that in many cases this AI tool selects higher severity, than real is (means you can expect Importants instead of Moderate 7.0 or Moderates 7.0 instead of regular Moderates). If you see such cases, please use reply email interface to add additional manual analyses info to this particular CVE. And please, please, let me know when you see Lows instead of Importants or Important instead of Low (because particular for such cases I need to tune this AI tool to make it better for this one and next similar). My contact email for such notifications is alexanjelausa@gmail.com (and both send reply to CVE record itself too and see "reply" button below for howto reply).