MediumCVE-2026-98884

    Linux Kernel: security vulnerability (CVE-2026-98884)

    Published Last modified Sources: Ubuntu, Msrc Update Guide, CVE.org, BSI

    Share

    What is affected, what to do

    In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mmc: core: Add validation for host-provided max_segs The max_segs field is of type unsigned short, and if a host driver sets an excessively large value, it may be truncated to zero. This can cause mmc_alloc_sg() to call kmalloc_objs() with a zero size allocation request, which leads to undefined behavior.

    Update Linux Kernel to version 5.15.222, Linux Kernel to version 6.1.189, Linux Kernel to version 6.6.158.

    Affected
    • Linux Kernel lt 2.6.24..5.15.222
    • Linux Kernel lt 5.16..6.1.189
    • Linux Kernel lt 6.2..6.6.158
    • Linux Kernel lt 6.7..6.12.111
    • Linux Kernel lt 6.13..6.18.53
    • Linux Kernel lt 6.19..7.2
    Fixed in
    • Linux Kernel 5.15.222
    • Linux Kernel 6.1.189
    • Linux Kernel 6.6.158
    • Linux Kernel 6.12.111
    • Linux Kernel 6.18.53
    • Linux Kernel 7.2

    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: Vendor (CNA), CVSS v3

    5.5

    CVSS v3

    Severity Medium on the scale from 0 to 10.

    Source: Ubuntu, Msrc Update Guide, CVE.org, BSI

    0.2 %

    EPSS score

    Low — model estimates < 1% exploitation likelihood.

    Source: FIRST EPSS, percentile 8.3

    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
    58.05 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
    0.2 %
    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
    8.3
    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: mmc: core: Add validation for host-provided max_segs The max_segs field is of type unsigned short, and if a host driver sets an excessively large value, it may be truncated to zero. This can cause mmc_alloc_sg() to call kmalloc_objs() with a zero size allocation request, which leads to undefined behavior. Under the SLUB allocator, kmalloc(0) returns a special pointer (ZERO_SIZE_PTR). The subsequent 'if (sg)' check will evaluate to true, and sg_init_table() will then attempt to access invalid memory, resulting in a crash: dwmmc_rockchip 2a310000.mmc: Successfully tuned phase to 133 mmc1: new UHS-I speed SDR104 SDHC card at address aaaa Unable to handle kernel paging request at virtual address 0000001ffffffff0 Mem abort info: ESR = 0x0000000096000004 EC = 0x25: DABT (current EL), IL = 32 bits SET = 0, FnV = 0 EA = 0, S1PTW = 0 FSC = 0x04: level 0 translation fault Data abort info: ISV = 0, ISS = 0x00000004, ISS2 = 0x00000000 CM = 0, WnR = 0, TnD = 0, TagAccess = 0 GCS = 0, Overlay = 0, DirtyBit = 0, Xs = 0 user pgtable: 4k pages, 48-bit VAs, pgdp=0000000102c88000 [0000001ffffffff0] pgd=0000000000000000, p4d=0000000000000000 Internal error: Oops: 0000000096000004 [#1] SMP Modules linked in: CPU: 2 UID: 0 PID: 102 Comm: kworker/2:1 Not tainted 7.0.0-rc6-next-20260331-00013-g4d93c25963c5-dirty #80 PREEMPT Hardware name: Rockchip RK3576 EVB V10 Board (DT) Workqueue: events_freezable mmc_rescan pstate: 80000005 (Nzcv daif -PAN -UAO -TCO -DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--) pc : sg_init_table+0x2c/0x50 lr : sg_init_table+0x24/0x50 sp : ffff8000837db710 x29: ffff8000837db710 x28: 000000000000c000 x27: 0000000000000300 x26: 0000000000000000 x25: 0000000000000040 x24: ffff0000c46a0000 x23: 0000000000000000 x22: ffff0000c0c73c00 x21: 0000000000000010 x20: 0000000000000010 x19: 0000000000000000 x18: 000000000000002c x17: 0000000000000000 x16: 0000000000000001 x15: 0000000000000000 x14: 0000000000000400 x13: ffff8000837dc000 x12: 0000000000000000 x11: ffff0000c0c73ca0 x10: 0000000000000040 x9 : 459ec1f0abbdbb00 x8 : 0000001fffffffe0 x7 : 0000000000000000 x6 : 000000000000003f x5 : 0000000000035579 x4 : 0000000000000901 x3 : 0000000000000000 x2 : 0000000000000000 x1 : 0000000000000000 x0 : 0000000000000010 Call trace: sg_init_table+0x2c/0x50 (P) mmc_mq_init_request+0x64/0x90 blk_mq_alloc_map_and_rqs+0x3ac/0x480 blk_mq_alloc_set_map_and_rqs+0x98/0x1e0 blk_mq_alloc_tag_set+0x1c0/0x290 mmc_init_queue+0x120/0x370 mmc_blk_alloc_req+0x150/0x420 To prevent this, add a validation check in mmc_mq_init_request() to detect when sg_len (derived from max_segs) is zero. If sg_len is zero, we return an error and print an error message, allowing host driver developers to identify and fix incorrect max_segs configuration. This is a defensive measure that ensures the MMC core fails gracefully when host drivers provide invalid max_segs values, rather than crashing with a page fault.

    Source: Ubuntu Security Notices, Microsoft Security Update Guide, cvelistv5, NVD (NIST), BSI WID Portal, BSI CSAF

    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
    • 6.19 – < 7.2
    • 5.16 – < 6.1.189
    • 6.13 – < 6.18.53
    • 6.2 – < 6.6.158
    • 2.6.24 – < 5.15.222
    • 6.7 – < 6.12.111
    • 7.2
    • 6.1.189
    • 6.18.53
    • 6.6.158
    • 5.15.222
    • 6.12.111

    Vendors and products

    Affected operating systems

    Affected operating systems
    Linuxubuntulinuxjammy
    Linuxubuntulinuxresolute
    Linuxubuntulinux-awsjammy
    Linuxubuntulinux-awsresolute
    Linuxubuntulinux-aws-5.15focal
    Linuxubuntulinux-aws-fipsjammy
    Linuxubuntulinux-azurejammy
    Linuxubuntulinux-azure-5.15focal
    Linuxubuntulinux-azure-fde-5.15focal
    Linuxubuntulinux-azure-fipsjammy
    Linuxubuntulinux-fipsjammy
    Linuxubuntulinux-gcpjammy
    Linuxubuntulinux-gcpresolute
    Linuxubuntulinux-gcp-5.15focal
    Linuxubuntulinux-gcp-fipsjammy
    Linuxubuntulinux-gkejammy
    Linuxubuntulinux-gkeopjammy
    Linuxubuntulinux-hwe-5.15focal
    Linuxubuntulinux-hwe-7.0noble
    Linuxubuntulinux-ibmjammy
    Linuxubuntulinux-ibmresolute
    Linuxubuntulinux-ibm-5.15focal
    Linuxubuntulinux-intel-iot-realtimejammy
    Linuxubuntulinux-intel-iotgjammy

    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. ReceivedLinux

      Description added or changed

      Show 8 original changes
      Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
      TypeActionBeforeAfter
      Descriptionadded
      —
      In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mmc: core: Add validation for host-provided max_segs The max_segs field is of type unsigned short, and if a host driver sets an excessively large value, it may be truncated to zero. This can cause mmc_alloc_sg() to call kmalloc_objs() with a zero size allocation request, which leads to undefined behavior. Under the SLUB allocator, kmalloc(0) returns a special pointer (ZERO_SIZE_PTR). The subsequent 'if (sg)' check will evaluate to true, and sg_init_table() will then attempt to access invalid memory, resulting in a crash: dwmmc_rockchip 2a310000.mmc: Successfully tuned phase to 133 mmc1: new UHS-I speed SDR104 SDHC card at address aaaa Unable to handle kernel paging request at virtual address 0000001ffffffff0 Mem abort info: ESR = 0x0000000096000004 EC = 0x25: DABT (current EL), IL = 32 bits SET = 0, FnV = 0 EA = 0, S1PTW = 0 FSC = 0x04: level 0 translation fault Data abort info: ISV = 0, ISS = 0x00000004, ISS2 = 0x00000000 CM = 0, WnR = 0, TnD = 0, TagAccess = 0 GCS = 0, Overlay = 0, DirtyBit = 0, Xs = 0 user pgtable: 4k pages, 48-bit VAs, pgdp=0000000102c88000 [0000001ffffffff0] pgd=0000000000000000, p4d=0000000000000000 Internal error: Oops: 0000000096000004 [#1] SMP Modules linked in: CPU: 2 UID: 0 PID: 102 Comm: kworker/2:1 Not tainted 7.0.0-rc6-next-20260331-00013-g4d93c25963c5-dirty #80 PREEMPT Hardware name: Rockchip RK3576 EVB V10 Board (DT) Workqueue: events_freezable mmc_rescan pstate: 80000005 (Nzcv daif -PAN -UAO -TCO -DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--) pc : sg_init_table+0x2c/0x50 lr : sg_init_table+0x24/0x50 sp : ffff8000837db710 x29: ffff8000837db710 x28: 000000000000c000 x27: 0000000000000300 x26: 0000000000000000 x25: 0000000000000040 x24: ffff0000c46a0000 x23: 0000000000000000 x22: ffff0000c0c73c00 x21: 0000000000000010 x20: 0000000000000010 x19: 0000000000000000 x18: 000000000000002c x17: 0000000000000000 x16: 0000000000000001 x15: 0000000000000000 x14: 0000000000000400 x13: ffff8000837dc000 x12: 0000000000000000 x11: ffff0000c0c73ca0 x10: 0000000000000040 x9 : 459ec1f0abbdbb00 x8 : 0000001fffffffe0 x7 : 0000000000000000 x6 : 000000000000003f x5 : 0000000000035579 x4 : 0000000000000901 x3 : 0000000000000000 x2 : 0000000000000000 x1 : 0000000000000000 x0 : 0000000000000010 Call trace: sg_init_table+0x2c/0x50 (P) mmc_mq_init_request+0x64/0x90 blk_mq_alloc_map_and_rqs+0x3ac/0x480 blk_mq_alloc_set_map_and_rqs+0x98/0x1e0 blk_mq_alloc_tag_set+0x1c0/0x290 mmc_init_queue+0x120/0x370 mmc_blk_alloc_req+0x150/0x420 To prevent this, add a validation check in mmc_mq_init_request() to detect when sg_len (derived from max_segs) is zero. If sg_len is zero, we return an error and print an error message, allowing host driver developers to identify and fix incorrect max_segs configuration. This is a defensive measure that ensures the MMC core fails gracefully when host drivers provide invalid max_segs values, rather than crashing with a page fault.
      Affected versions (publisher)added
      —
      New affected value received. <a href="https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/blob/main/cves/2026/98xxx/CVE-2026-98884.json">CVE-2026-98884</a>
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/03f5a16ec85beebabd5ab5e67ac1527f87908ded
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/3e0483e93a8be320f70a1ff68d835f7f015af311
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9cca3c0c1472d6204ef8a78a6e7b3afe9610b22e
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a8283f7d93f0d9336b15618b9665279ff6944319
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b037c2f7794aa01ee2a00e43c29645fd2dd2dfb9
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c465608bd25d7f8565be7817a6a36a5d69f8aa14

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

    Embed badge

    Show the severity and KEV status of this vulnerability on your site – with a link back here. The image is updated hourly.

    Badge preview for CVE-2026-98884
    <a href="https://intel.neosec.eu/en/cve/CVE-2026-98884"><img src="https://intel.neosec.eu/badge/cve/CVE-2026-98884.svg?lang=en" alt="CVE-2026-98884 – NEOSEC Intel" height="20"></a>