CVE-2026-31521

About vulnerability

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

module: Fix kernel panic when a symbol st_shndx is out of bounds

The module loader doesn’t check for bounds of the ELF section index in simplify_symbols():

for (i = 1; i < symsec->sh_size / sizeof(Elf_Sym); i++) { const char *name = info->strtab + sym[i].st_name;

switch (sym[i].st_shndx) { case SHN_COMMON:

[…]

default: /* Divert to percpu allocation if a percpu var. / if (sym[i].st_shndx == info->index.pcpu) secbase = (unsigned long)mod_percpu(mod); else /* HERE –> **/ secbase = info->sechdrs[sym[i].st_shndx].sh_addr; sym[i].st_value += secbase; break; } }

A symbol with an out-of-bounds st_shndx value, for example 0xffff (known as SHN_XINDEX or SHN_HIRESERVE), may cause a kernel panic:

BUG: unable to handle page fault for address: … RIP: 0010:simplify_symbols+0x2b2/0x480 … Kernel panic - not syncing: Fatal exception

This can happen when module ELF is legitimately using SHN_XINDEX or when it is corrupted.

Add a bounds check in simplify_symbols() to validate that st_shndx is within the valid range before using it.

This issue was discovered due to a bug in llvm-objcopy, see relevant discussion for details [1].

[1] https://lore.kernel.org/linux-modules/[email protected]/

Affected product:

AlmaLinux 9.2 ESU , Amazon Linux 2 ELS , CentOS 6 ELS , CentOS 7 ELS , CentOS 8.4 ELS , CentOS 8.5 ELS , CentOS Stream 8 ELS , CloudLinux 7 ELS , Debian 10 ELS , Oracle Linux 6 ELS , Oracle Linux 7 ELS , RHEL 7 ELS , TuxCare 9.6 ESU , Ubuntu 16.04 ELS , Ubuntu 18.04 ELS , Ubuntu 20.04 ELS

Affected packages:

kernel @ 5.10.0 (+18 more)

Live-patch status from KernelCare for each operating system.