Linux Kernel up to 6.12.112/6.18.55/7.2.9/7.3-rc5 nvmet-auth fabrics-cmd-auth.c nvmet_auth_challenge out-of-bounds write

CVSS Meta Temp Score CVSS is a standardized scoring system to determine possibilities of attacks. The Temp Score considers temporal factors like disclosure, exploit and countermeasures. The unique Meta Score calculates the average score of different sources to provide a normalized scoring system.	Current Exploit Price (≈) Our analysts are monitoring exploit markets and are in contact with vulnerability brokers. The range indicates the observed or calculated exploit price to be seen on exploit markets. A good indicator to understand the monetary effort required for and the popularity of an attack.	CTI Interest Score Our Cyber Threat Intelligence team is monitoring different web sites, mailing lists, exploit markets and social media networks. The CTI Interest Score identifies the interest of attackers and the security community for this specific vulnerability in real-time. A high score indicates an elevated risk to be targeted for this vulnerability.
9.5	$5k-$25k	0.89

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability classified as very critical was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.112/6.18.55/7.2.9/7.3-rc5. The affected element is the function nvmet_auth_challenge of the file drivers/nvme/target/fabrics-cmd-auth.c of the component nvmet-auth. Such manipulation leads to out-of-bounds write. This vulnerability is listed as CVE-2026-98725. The attack may be performed from remote. There is no available exploit. Upgrading the affected component is advised.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.112/6.18.55/7.2.9/7.3-rc5 and classified as very critical. Affected by this issue is the function nvmet_auth_challenge of the file drivers/nvme/target/fabrics-cmd-auth.c of the component nvmet-auth. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a out-of-bounds write vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-787. The product writes data past the end, or before the beginning, of the intended buffer. Impacted is confidentiality, integrity, and availability. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: nvmet-auth: fix out-of-bounds write in nvmet_auth_challenge() nvmet_auth_challenge() receives its output buffer as a void pointer. sizeof(*d) therefore evaluates to one with GCC and undercounts the fixed challenge header by 15 bytes. A short AUTH_RECEIVE buffer can pass the check before the challenge is copied past the end of its allocation. Use the typed challenge pointer when calculating the response size. BUG: KASAN: slab-out-of-bounds in nvmet_execute_auth_receive (drivers/nvme/target/fabrics-cmd-auth.c:442 drivers/nvme/target/fabrics-cmd-auth.c:569) Write of size 32 by task kworker/1:1H/64 Workqueue: nvmet_tcp_wq nvmet_tcp_io_work Call Trace: nvmet_execute_auth_receive (drivers/nvme/target/fabrics-cmd-auth.c:442 drivers/nvme/target/fabrics-cmd-auth.c:569) nvmet_tcp_try_recv_pdu (drivers/nvme/target/tcp.c:1119 drivers/nvme/target/tcp.c:1243) nvmet_tcp_io_work (drivers/nvme/target/tcp.c:1350 drivers/nvme/target/tcp.c:1382 drivers/nvme/target/tcp.c:1445) process_one_work (kernel/workqueue.c:3322) worker_thread (kernel/workqueue.c:3405 kernel/workqueue.c:3486) kthread (kernel/kthread.c:436) ret_from_fork (arch/x86/kernel/process.c:158) ret_from_fork_asm (arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:245) The buggy address is located 16 bytes inside of allocated 33-byte region [ffff888000554e80, ffff888000554ea1) Kernel panic - not syncing: KASAN: panic_on_warn set ...

The advisory is shared for download at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2026-98725 since 09/25/2026. The exploitation is known to be easy. The attack may be launched remotely. There are known technical details, but no exploit is available. The current price for an exploit might be approx. USD $5k-$25k (estimation calculated on 10/18/2026).

Upgrading to version 6.12.113, 6.18.56, 7.2.10 or 7.3-rc6 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 9d61131acd742cf97ee64e453383e41b46568513/7fd3c363eba4f2aceb4b3f31cd1cf65e0dcbaee4/8a9b4c0eef19c207663c1ee888257307c869ca86/fa6778e030bed9841ddcdf96bc7018da9ac03562 is able to eliminate this problem. 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

• 6.12.112
• 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
• 6.18.27
• 6.18.28
• 6.18.29
• 6.18.30
• 6.18.31
• 6.18.32
• 6.18.33
• 6.18.34
• 6.18.35
• 6.18.36
• 6.18.37
• 6.18.38
• 6.18.39
• 6.18.40
• 6.18.41
• 6.18.42
• 6.18.43
• 6.18.44
• 6.18.45
• 6.18.46
• 6.18.47
• 6.18.48
• 6.18.49
• 6.18.50
• 6.18.51
• 6.18.52
• 6.18.53
• 6.18.54
• 6.18.55
• 7.2.0
• 7.2.1
• 7.2.2
• 7.2.3
• 7.2.4
• 7.2.5
• 7.2.6
• 7.2.7
• 7.2.8
• 7.2.9
• 7.3-rc1
• 7.3-rc2
• 7.3-rc3
• 7.3-rc4
• 7.3-rc5

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

• 🔒
• 🔒
• 🔒

CPE 2.2info

• 🔒
• 🔒
• 🔒

CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 9.9
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 9.5

VulDB Base Score: 9.9
VulDB Temp Score: 9.5
VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv2info

AV	AC	Au	C	I	A
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳

Vector	Complexity	Authentication	Confidentiality	Integrity	Availability
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock

VulDB Base Score: 🔒
VulDB Temp Score: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

Exploitinginfo

Class: Out-of-bounds write
CWE: CWE-787 / CWE-119
CAPEC: 🔒
ATT&CK: 🔒

Physical: No
Local: No
Remote: Yes

Availability: 🔒
Status: Not defined
Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔒

0-Day	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Today	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Interest: 🔍
Active Actors: 🔍
Active APT Groups: 🔍

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: Upgrade
Status: 🔍

0-Day Time: 🔒

Upgrade: Kernel 6.12.113/6.18.56/7.2.10/7.3-rc6
Patch: 9d61131acd742cf97ee64e453383e41b46568513/7fd3c363eba4f2aceb4b3f31cd1cf65e0dcbaee4/8a9b4c0eef19c207663c1ee888257307c869ca86/fa6778e030bed9841ddcdf96bc7018da9ac03562

Timelineinfo

09/25/2026 CVE reserved
10/18/2026 +23 days Advisory disclosed
10/18/2026 +0 days VulDB entry created
10/18/2026 +0 days VulDB entry last update

Sourcesinfo

Vendor: kernel.org

Advisory: git.kernel.org
Status: Confirmed

CVE: CVE-2026-98725 (🔒)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2026-98725
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-421988

Entryinfo

Created: 10/18/2026 19:40
Changes: 10/18/2026 19:40 (60)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

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Discussion

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