Linux Kernel up to 6.12.85/6.18.26/7.0.3 pt5161l_read_block_data buffer overflow

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability identified as critical has been detected in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.85/6.18.26/7.0.3. Affected is the function pt5161l_read_block_data. This manipulation causes buffer overflow. This vulnerability is tracked as CVE-2026-46001. No exploit exists. You should upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.85/6.18.26/7.0.3 and classified as critical. Affected by this vulnerability is the function pt5161l_read_block_data. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a buffer overflow vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-120. The product copies an input buffer to an output buffer without verifying that the size of the input buffer is less than the size of the output buffer, leading to a buffer overflow. As an impact it is known to affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: hwmon: (pt5161l) Fix bugs in pt5161l_read_block_data() Fix two bugs in pt5161l_read_block_data(): 1. Buffer overrun: The local buffer rbuf is declared as u8 rbuf[24], but i2c_smbus_read_block_data() can return up to I2C_SMBUS_BLOCK_MAX (32) bytes. The i2c-core copies the data into the caller's buffer before the return value can be checked, so the post-read length validation does not prevent a stack overrun if a device returns more than 24 bytes. Resize the buffer to I2C_SMBUS_BLOCK_MAX. 2. Unexpected positive return on length mismatch: When all three retries are exhausted because the device returns data with an unexpected length, i2c_smbus_read_block_data() returns a positive byte count. The function returns this directly, and callers treat any non-negative return as success, processing stale or incomplete buffer contents. Return -EIO when retries are exhausted with a positive return value, preserving the negative error code on I2C failure.

The advisory is shared at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2026-46001 since 05/13/2026. The exploitation appears to be easy. Technical details are known, but no exploit is available. The price for an exploit might be around USD $5k-$25k at the moment (estimation calculated on 06/16/2026).

Upgrading to version 6.12.86, 6.18.27, 7.0.4 or 7.1-rc1 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 7eccabff1c9ec15e4b6fe186d5c147b13a9cdb4e/95d48e37a1304d6148406c799479c0fb505aefa7/a11aa9c5fd9dfe62be7cfec1f2a7546afb77254c/24c73e93d6a756e1b8626bb259d2e07c5b89b370 is able to eliminate this problem. The bugfix is ready for download at git.kernel.org. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

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Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 6.12.0
• 6.12.1
• 6.12.2
• 6.12.3
• 6.12.4
• 6.12.5
• 6.12.6
• 6.12.7
• 6.12.8
• 6.12.9
• 6.12.10
• 6.12.11
• 6.12.12
• 6.12.13
• 6.12.14
• 6.12.15
• 6.12.16
• 6.12.17
• 6.12.18
• 6.12.19
• 6.12.20
• 6.12.21
• 6.12.22
• 6.12.23
• 6.12.24
• 6.12.25
• 6.12.26
• 6.12.27
• 6.12.28
• 6.12.29
• 6.12.30
• 6.12.31
• 6.12.32
• 6.12.33
• 6.12.34
• 6.12.35
• 6.12.36
• 6.12.37
• 6.12.38
• 6.12.39
• 6.12.40
• 6.12.41
• 6.12.42
• 6.12.43
• 6.12.44
• 6.12.45
• 6.12.46
• 6.12.47
• 6.12.48
• 6.12.49
• 6.12.50
• 6.12.51
• 6.12.52
• 6.12.53
• 6.12.54
• 6.12.55
• 6.12.56
• 6.12.57
• 6.12.58
• 6.12.59
• 6.12.60
• 6.12.61
• 6.12.62
• 6.12.63
• 6.12.64
• 6.12.65
• 6.12.66
• 6.12.67
• 6.12.68
• 6.12.69
• 6.12.70
• 6.12.71
• 6.12.72
• 6.12.73
• 6.12.74
• 6.12.75
• 6.12.76
• 6.12.77
• 6.12.78
• 6.12.79
• 6.12.80
• 6.12.81
• 6.12.82
• 6.12.83
• 6.12.84
• 6.12.85
• 6.18.0
• 6.18.1
• 6.18.2
• 6.18.3
• 6.18.4
• 6.18.5
• 6.18.6
• 6.18.7
• 6.18.8
• 6.18.9
• 6.18.10
• 6.18.11
• 6.18.12
• 6.18.13
• 6.18.14
• 6.18.15
• 6.18.16
• 6.18.17
• 6.18.18
• 6.18.19
• 6.18.20
• 6.18.21
• 6.18.22
• 6.18.23
• 6.18.24
• 6.18.25
• 6.18.26
• 7.0.0
• 7.0.1
• 7.0.2
• 7.0.3

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

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Entryinfo

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