CVE-2026-63949
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: auxdisplay: line-display: fix OOB read on zero-length message_store() linedisp_display() unconditionally reads msg[count - 1] before checking whether count is zero, so a write of zero bytes to the message sysfs attribute hits msg[-1]: write(fd, "", 0); -> message_store(..., buf, count=0) -> linedisp_display(linedisp, buf, count=0) -> msg[count - 1] == '\n' ; OOB read The kernfs write buffer for that store is a 1-byte allocation (kernfs_fop_write_iter() does kmalloc(len + 1) with len == 0), so msg[-1] is a 1-byte read before the slab object. On a KASAN-enabled kernel this trips an out-of-bounds report and panics; on stock kernels it silently reads adjacent slab data and, if that byte happens to be '\n', the following count-- wraps ssize_t 0 to -1 and is then passed to kmemdup_nul(). linedisp_display() is reached from the message_store() sysfs callback (drivers/auxdisplay/line-display.c message attribute, mode 0644) and from the in-tree initial-message setup with count == -1, so the OOB path is only userspace-triggerable via zero-byte writes; vfs_write() does not short-circuit on count == 0 and kernfs_fop_write_iter() dispatches the store callback regardless. Guard the trailing-newline trim with a count check. The existing if (!count) block then takes the clear-display path unchanged. Affects every auxdisplay driver that registers via linedisp_register() / linedisp_attach(): ht16k33, max6959, img-ascii-lcd, seg-led-gpio.
Affected versions
Linux kernel versions
5.16
and later are affected. Fixed in
6.1.176,
6.6.143,
6.12.93,
6.18.35,
7.0.12,
7.1
and their respective stable series.
References
6 totalFrequently asked questions
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What is CVE-2026-63949?
CVE-2026-63949 is a unscored severity Linux kernel vulnerability . It affects Linux kernel versions from 5.16 onward and has been patched in 6.1.176, 6.6.143, 6.12.93 and others. CVE-2026-63949 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
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Is there a patch available for CVE-2026-63949?
Yes — CVE-2026-63949 has been patched. Fixed versions include 6.1.176, 6.6.143, 6.12.93 and others. If you are running Linux kernel 5.16 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.
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Is CVE-2026-63949 actively exploited?
No — CVE-2026-63949 has not been confirmed as actively exploited. It is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.