CVE-2026-72135 json
tpm: Make the TPM character devices non-seekable
published 2026-08-15 2 mo ago modified 2026-10-16 23 d ago also EUVD-2026-58893
- cvss
- 7.8
- version 3.1, CNA
- cisa kev
- Not listed
- not in CISA's catalog
- epss
- 0.2%
- EPSS 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 6%
- public exploits
- 0
- none known
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
tpm: Make the TPM character devices non-seekable
The TPM character devices expose a sequential command/response interface, but their open handlers leave FMODE_PREAD and FMODE_PWRITE enabled.
After a command leaves a response pending, pread(fd, buf, 16, 0x1400) passes 0x1400 as *off to tpm_common_read(). The transfer length is bounded by response_length, but the offset is used unchecked when forming data_buffer + *off. A sufficiently large offset therefore causes an out-of-bounds heap read through copy_to_user() and, if the copy succeeds, an out-of-bounds zero-write through the following memset().
Positional I/O does not provide coherent semantics for this interface. An arbitrary pread offset cannot represent how much of a response has been consumed sequentially. The write callback always stores a command at the start of data_buffer, while pwrite() does not update file->f_pos and can leave the sequential read cursor stale.
Call nonseekable_open() from both open handlers. This removes FMODE_PREAD and FMODE_PWRITE, causing positional reads and writes to fail with -ESPIPE before reaching the TPM callbacks, and explicitly marks the files non-seekable. Normal read() and write() continue to use the existing sequential f_pos cursor, leaving the response state machine unchanged.
Tested on Linux 6.12 with KASAN and a swtpm TPM2 device:
- sequential partial reads returned the complete response - pread() and preadv() with offset 0x1400 returned -ESPIPE - pwrite() and pwritev() with offset zero returned -ESPIPE - the pending response remained intact after the rejected operations - a subsequent normal command/response cycle completed normally - no KASAN report was produced.
Patch / fix
- Linux Linux 5.10.261, 5.15.212, 6.1.178, 6.6.145, 6.12.97, 6.18.40, 7.1.5, 7.2
- linux Debian 12 6.1.180-1
- linux Debian 13 6.12.100-1
- linux Debian 14 7.1.5-1
debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2026-72135
- linux Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 5.15.0-198.208
- linux Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-147.147
- linux Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-38.38
- linux-aws Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 5.15.0-1117.124
- linux-aws Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-1067.70
- linux-aws Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-1014.14
- linux-gcp Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 5.15.0-1118.128
- linux-gcp Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-1071.79
ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2026-72135
Ubuntu security data © Canonical Ltd., from https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0
- kernel-64kb SLE Module for Basesystem 15 SP7 6.4.0-150700.53.84.1
- kernel-syms SLE Module for Development Tools 15 SP7 6.4.0-150700.53.84.1
- kernel-azure SLE Module for Public Cloud 15 SP7 6.4.0-150700.53.84.1
- kernel-source SLE Module for Development Tools 15 SP7, SLE Module for Basesystem 15 SP7 6.4.0-150700.53.84.1
- kernel-default SLE Workstation Extension 15 SP7, SLE Module for Legacy 15 SP7, SLE Module for Basesystem 15 SP7 +2 more 6.4.0-150700.53.84.1
- kernel-zfcpdump SLE Module for Basesystem 15 SP7 6.4.0-150700.53.84.1
- kernel-obs-build SLE Module for Development Tools 15 SP7 6.4.0-150700.53.84.1
- kernel-default-base SLE Module for Basesystem 15 SP7 6.4.0-150700.53.84.1.150700.17.47.1
suse advisories SUSE-SU-2026:4706-1SUSE-SU-2026:4640-1SUSE-SU-2026:24316-1SUSE-SU-2026:24315-1SUSE-SU-2026:24181-1SUSE-SU-2026:24182-1
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/ed0ffc2c016629e40ba041ed0424a772d8b02e2c commit
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/232dcf908eb7eb9d8046a9597975caf44270966e commit
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/dda695fab5e21f923d29e8cb01df256468ddfbd1 commit
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/9c513dabd4540f811585a2087f23069767a284da commit
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/21a13f932972bc9836f58c44fcd47c62abdecd95 commit
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/ada4b9a5087ea7f30dd8e4c6411a4fb6547eb1ed commit
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/947b773caaa548672184df025271b29bdc80b0f1 commit
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/f20d61c22bcaf172d6790b6500e3838e532e71c8 commit
Vendor advisories
What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.
red hat product security vex CVE-2026-72135 updated cvss 7.0
kernel: tpm: Make the TPM character devices non-seekable
-
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 perf, kernel, python-perf, kernel-kdump, kernel-firmware, kernel-bootwrapper, +1 moreaffected: no fix planned “Out of support scope”
-
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, kernel-core, kernel-tools, +29 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 rv, perf, rtla, kernel, bpftool, libperf, +83 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 kernelaffected: no fix available
-
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, python-perf, kernel-kdump, +8 morenot affected: vulnerable code not present
Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf
CISA SSVC
- Exploitation
- none
- Automatable
- no
- Technical impact
- total
- Assessed
- 23 d ago
Exploit prediction
0.17% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 6% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).
CVSS scores
| assigned by | version | score | vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| CNA | 3.1 | 7.8 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
Affected products
- Linux Linux
Classification
- Technology feeds
References
- git.kernel.org /stable/c/ed0ffc2c016629e40ba041ed0424a772d8b02e2c
- git.kernel.org /stable/c/232dcf908eb7eb9d8046a9597975caf44270966e
- git.kernel.org /stable/c/dda695fab5e21f923d29e8cb01df256468ddfbd1
- git.kernel.org /stable/c/9c513dabd4540f811585a2087f23069767a284da
- git.kernel.org /stable/c/21a13f932972bc9836f58c44fcd47c62abdecd95
- git.kernel.org /stable/c/ada4b9a5087ea7f30dd8e4c6411a4fb6547eb1ed
- git.kernel.org /stable/c/947b773caaa548672184df025271b29bdc80b0f1
- git.kernel.org /stable/c/f20d61c22bcaf172d6790b6500e3838e532e71c8
Sources
- CVE List CVE-2026-72135
- NVD CVE-2026-72135
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