MediumCVE-2026-46088

    Linux Kernel: security vulnerability (CVE-2026-46088)

    Published Last modified Sources: SUSE, Debian LTS, Ubuntu, Siemens ProductCERT, BSI, EUVD, CVE.org, Msrc Update Guide

    What is affected, what to do

    In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ALSA: control: Validate buf_len before strnlen() in snd_ctl_elem_init_enum_names() snd_ctl_elem_init_enum_names() advances pointer p through the names buffer while decrementing buf_len. If buf_len reaches zero but items remain, the next iteration calls strnlen(p, 0).

    Update Linux Kernel to version 5.10.258, Linux Kernel to version 5.15.209, Linux Kernel to version 6.1.175.

    Affected
    • Linux Kernel lt 3.2..5.10.258
    • Linux Kernel lt 5.11..5.15.209
    • Linux Kernel lt 5.16..6.1.175
    • Linux Kernel lt 6.2..6.6.140
    • Linux Kernel lt 6.7..6.12.86
    • Linux Kernel lt 6.13..6.18.27
    • Linux Kernel lt 6.19..7.0.4
    Fixed in
    • Linux Kernel 5.10.258
    • Linux Kernel 5.15.209
    • Linux Kernel 6.1.175
    • Linux Kernel 6.6.140
    • Linux Kernel 6.12.86
    • Linux Kernel 6.18.27
    • Linux Kernel 7.0.4
    • Linux Kernel 7.1

    Not sure whether and how you are affected? Ask a question about this vulnerability

    Metrics

    5.5

    Priority

    XIEM Effective CVSS: highest available CVSS rating from NVD and vendor data.

    Source: NVD, CVSS v3

    5.5

    CVSS v3

    Severity Medium on the scale from 0 to 10.

    Source: SUSE, Debian LTS, Ubuntu, Siemens ProductCERT, BSI, EUVD, CVE.org, Msrc Update Guide

    0.1 %

    EPSS score

    Low — model estimates < 1% exploitation likelihood.

    Source: FIRST EPSS, percentile 2.2

    Show all metrics
    Severity
    Medium
    Priority (0–325)

    The priority score is a consolidated metric that condenses several individual signals into a single, action-guiding ranking: technical severity (CVSS), exploitation likelihood (EPSS), known-exploited status (KEV) and the context of the affected asset. The aim is to answer the only truly important question in vulnerability management: what first?

    Read in glossary
    45.55 Methodology
    Exploit maturity

    An exploit is code or a technique that specifically uses a concrete vulnerability to force unintended behaviour — such as executing code or escalating privileges. It is the tool that turns a theoretical flaw into a practical attack.

    Read in glossary
    no public PoC known
    XIEM Effective CVSS

    XIEM® is the tiered managed-security operating model from NEOSEC and a registered trademark of NEOSEC GmbH. It extends classic SIEM — the central collection, normalisation and correlation of security-relevant events — with endpoint forensics, network visibility and deception technology, and consolidates them into three building tiers: Sentry, Orchestrate and Command.

    Read in glossary
    5.5 Methodology
    CVSS v3

    CVSS is the globally established, open standard for assessing the technical severity of a vulnerability on a scale from 0 to 10. It describes how easily a flaw can be exploited and what damage it can cause — but not how likely its actual exploitation is. CVSS and the complementary EPSS deliberately answer different questions.

    Read in glossary
    5.5
    EPSS score

    The EPSS score is the absolute model output for an individual vulnerability: the estimated probability of real-world exploitation within the next 30 days, expressed as a value between 0 and 1 (i.e. 0 % to 100 %). A score of 0.42 means „the model estimates a 42 % chance of real-world exploitation within 30 days“.

    Read in glossary
    0.1 %
    Low — model estimates < 1% exploitation likelihood.
    EPSS percentile

    The EPSS percentile is the relative position of a vulnerability within all EPSS-scored CVEs, expressed as a value between 0 and 1. A percentile of 0.90 means „this CVE has a higher EPSS score than 90 % of all other scored CVEs“. Unlike the EPSS score, it is not a probability — but a positioning within a ranking.

    Read in glossary
    2.2
    Low — this CVE sits in the lower 10% of all CVEs scored today.
    KEV status

    The KEV catalogue is a list maintained by the US authority CISA of vulnerabilities for which active exploitation in the wild has been confirmed. It answers not the question „how severe?“ but „is it already being attacked?“ — thereby sharply prioritising patching.

    Read in glossary
    —
    Published

    Detection rules

    No NEOSEC detection rule is available for this vulnerability yet.

    Classification under NIS2 and CRA

    Rule-based classification from exploitation status and severity. It does not replace a case-by-case assessment.

    NIS2

    NIS2 is EU Directive (EU) 2022/2555 to raise the level of cybersecurity across the Union. It substantially broadens obligations compared with the first NIS directive: more sectors, mandatory risk management, staged reporting duties and personal accountability of senior management.

    Read in glossary
    Handle the vulnerability in regular vulnerability handling under Art. 21(2)(e) NIS2.
    CRA

    The CRA is EU Regulation (EU) 2024/2847 setting horizontal cybersecurity requirements for „products with digital elements“ — from industrial controllers and software to connected consumer devices. For the first time manufacturers must ensure security across the entire product lifecycle, handle vulnerabilities and provide security updates.

    Read in glossary
    From 11.12.2027, Annex I Part II CRA requires manufacturers of affected products with digital elements to handle vulnerabilities without delay and provide security updates.
    ISO/IEC 27001

    ISO/IEC 27001 is the internationally leading standard for an information security management system (ISMS). It describes a risk-based, process-oriented framework to systematically plan, implement, review and improve information security.

    Read in glossary
    Control A.8.8, management of technical vulnerabilities: assess relevance to your systems, plan remediation and keep evidence.

    Description

    In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ALSA: control: Validate buf_len before strnlen() in snd_ctl_elem_init_enum_names() snd_ctl_elem_init_enum_names() advances pointer p through the names buffer while decrementing buf_len. If buf_len reaches zero but items remain, the next iteration calls strnlen(p, 0). While strnlen(p, 0) returns 0 and would hit the existing name_len == 0 error path, CONFIG_FORTIFY_SOURCE's fortified strnlen() first checks maxlen against __builtin_dynamic_object_size(). When Clang loses track of p's object size inside the loop, this triggers a BRK exception panic before the return value is examined. Add a buf_len == 0 guard at the loop entry to prevent calling fortified strnlen() on an exhausted buffer. Found by kernel fuzz testing through Xiaomi Smartphone.

    Source: suse_csaf, Debian LTS Advisories, Ubuntu Security Notices, siemens_advisory, BSI WID Portal, BSI CSAF, ENISA EUVD, cvelistv5, NVD (NIST), CVE.org (MITRE), Microsoft Security Update Guide

    Affected products

    The following versions are affected. Older releases of the same product line are also vulnerable unless stated otherwise.

    Affected products
    Affected versionsFixed in
    LinuxLinux
    • 5.16 – < 6.1.175
    • 6.19 – < 7.0.4
    • 6.2 – < 6.6.140
    • 3.2 – < 5.10.258
    • 6.13 – < 6.18.27
    • 5.11 – < 5.15.209
    • —
    • 6.7 – < 6.12.86
    • 6.1.175
    • 7.0.4
    • 6.6.140
    • 5.10.258
    • 6.18.27
    • 5.15.209
    • 7.1
    • 6.12.86
    SiemensSIMATIC S7
    • 1500 TM MFP V1.1.1 GNU/Linux subsystem
    • —

    Vendors and products

    Affected operating systems

    Affected operating systems
    Linuxdebianlinuxbookworm
    Linuxdebianlinuxbullseye
    Linuxdebianlinux-6.1bullseye
    Linuxlinuxlinux_kernel—

    References & sources

    Changes to this CVE

    Who changed this CVE and when: NVD (analysis, affected products, CVSS), the CVE publisher (CNA) and additional providers such as CISA (ADP).

    1. Record modifiedLinux

      Show 24 original changes
      Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
      TypeActionBeforeAfter
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1fbe46d2b72754d8bd580e13e59ccb5d3d0e8cb0
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/654c818a69c21d2bea4e8fd9eae7da865df9a5c8
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/708f6ec9bcdf58bfd561409110baaf4fd3be4ea3
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/82012fd3e78a14360fbc2f1a7491589896704f97
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8ba0214c3dd32b8ec652947e3f2bc5b8f6e6be9e
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a470f7cabc4df72d9bd132f5719a8717292bb440
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/bfcbb4994da9e979c4bcfcf24aaaac69e457e48e
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e0da8a8cac74f4b9f577979d131f0d2b88a84487
      Referenceremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1fbe46d2b72754d8bd580e13e59ccb5d3d0e8cb0
      —
      Referenceremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/654c818a69c21d2bea4e8fd9eae7da865df9a5c8
      —
      Referenceremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/708f6ec9bcdf58bfd561409110baaf4fd3be4ea3
      —
      Referenceremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/82012fd3e78a14360fbc2f1a7491589896704f97
      —
      Referenceremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8ba0214c3dd32b8ec652947e3f2bc5b8f6e6be9e
      —
      Referenceremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a470f7cabc4df72d9bd132f5719a8717292bb440
      —
      Referenceremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/bfcbb4994da9e979c4bcfcf24aaaac69e457e48e
      —
      Referenceremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e0da8a8cac74f4b9f577979d131f0d2b88a84487
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1fbe46d2b72754d8bd580e13e59ccb5d3d0e8cb0 Types: Patch
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/654c818a69c21d2bea4e8fd9eae7da865df9a5c8 Types: Patch
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/708f6ec9bcdf58bfd561409110baaf4fd3be4ea3 Types: Patch
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/82012fd3e78a14360fbc2f1a7491589896704f97 Types: Patch
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8ba0214c3dd32b8ec652947e3f2bc5b8f6e6be9e Types: Patch
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a470f7cabc4df72d9bd132f5719a8717292bb440 Types: Patch
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/bfcbb4994da9e979c4bcfcf24aaaac69e457e48e Types: Patch
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e0da8a8cac74f4b9f577979d131f0d2b88a84487 Types: Patch
      —

      Source identifier: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

    2. Record modifiedSiemens ADP

      Show 2 original changes
      Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
      TypeActionBeforeAfter
      Affected versions (publisher)added
      —
      New affected value received. <a href="https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/blob/main/cves/2026/46xxx/CVE-2026-46088.json">CVE-2026-46088</a>
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-784472.html

      Source identifier: 0b142b55-0307-4c5a-b3c9-f314f3fb7c5e

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