High · published July 20, 2026
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
i2c: stub: Reject I2C block transfers with invalid length
The I2C_SMBUS_I2C_BLOCK_DATA case in stub_xfer() uses data->block[0]
as the transfer length. The existing check only clamps it to avoid
overrunning the chip->words[256] register array, but does not validate
it against I2C_SMBUS_BLOCK_MAX (32), which is the limit of the union
i2c_smbus_data.block buffer (34 bytes total). The driver is a
development/test tool (CONFIG_I2C_STUB=m, not built by default)
that must be loaded with a chip_addr= parameter.
A local user with access to /dev/i2c-* can issue an I2C_SMBUS ioctl
with I2C_SMBUS_I2C_BLOCK_DATA and data->block[0] > 32, causing
stub_xfer() to read or write past the end of the union
i2c_smbus_data.block buffer:
BUG: KASAN: stack-out-of-bounds in stub_xfer (drivers/i2c/i2c-stub.c:223)
Read of size 1 at addr ffff88800abcfd92 by task exploit/81
Call Trace:
<TASK>
stub_xfer (drivers/i2c/i2c-stub.c:223)
__i2c_smbus_xfer (drivers/i2c/i2c-core-smbus.c:593)
i2c_smbus_xfer (drivers/i2c/i2c-core-smbus.c:536)
i2cdev_ioctl_smbus (drivers/i2c/i2c-dev.c:391)
i2cdev_ioctl (drivers/i2c/i2c-dev.c:478)
__x64_sys_ioctl (fs/ioctl.c:583)
do_syscall_64 (arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:94)
entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe (arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:130)
</TASK>
The bug exists because i2c-stub implements .smbus_xfer directly,
bypassing the I2C_SMBUS_BLOCK_MAX validation in
i2c_smbus_xfer_emulated(). The I2C_SMBUS_BLOCK_DATA case in the same
function correctly validates against I2C_SMBUS_BLOCK_MAX, but the
I2C_SMBUS_I2C_BLOCK_DATA case does not.
Fix by rejecting transfers with data->block[0] == 0 or
data->block[0] > I2C_SMBUS_BLOCK_MAX with -EINVAL, consistent with
both the I2C_SMBUS_BLOCK_DATA case in the same function and the
I2C_SMBUS_I2C_BLOCK_DATA validation in i2c_smbus_xfer_emulated().
| Product | Versions | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| linux/linux_kernel | ≥ 2.6.33, < 5.10.260 | 5.10.260 |
| linux/linux_kernel | ≥ 5.11, < 5.15.211 | 5.15.211 |
| linux/linux_kernel | ≥ 5.16, < 6.1.177 | 6.1.177 |
| linux/linux_kernel | ≥ 6.2, < 6.6.144 | 6.6.144 |
| linux/linux_kernel | ≥ 6.7, < 6.12.95 | 6.12.95 |
| linux/linux_kernel | ≥ 6.13, < 6.18.37 | 6.18.37 |
| linux/linux_kernel | ≥ 6.19, < 7.0.14 | 7.0.14 |
| linux/linux_kernel | all versions | — |
| linux/linux_kernel | all versions | — |