KernelScan.io

HIGH Introduced in 3.1

openrisc SigReturn PrivilegeEscalation

CVE-2026-80560

CVSS 7.8 / 10.0 NVD

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

KernelScan AI8.2HIGH

01

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: openrisc: signal: do not restore privileged SR bits on sigreturn restore_sigcontext() copies the whole supervision register (SR) from the signal frame and only clears SPR_SR_SM before the value is reloaded into the hardware SR (through ESR and l.rfe) on the return to user space. All other SR bits are left under user control. An unprivileged task can thus return from a signal handler through a crafted sigframe that clears SPR_SR_DME. With the data MMU disabled the CPU performs no translation or protection on data accesses, so the task gains read and write access to arbitrary physical memory, a local privilege escalation. SPR_SR_IME, SPR_SR_SUMRA, SPR_SR_LEE, SPR_SR_EPH and the cache-enable bits are exposed the same way. The ptrace GPR regset already refuses any change to SR for exactly this reason. Restore only the arithmetic flag bits (F, CY, OV) from the signal frame and take every privileged control bit from the SR the kernel saved on signal entry. Verified with qemu-system-or1k -M or1k-sim: before this change an unprivileged PoC clears SPR_SR_DME in rt_sigreturn and writes a marker to physical address 0x03000000 (beyond the kernel's mem=32M); afterwards the same PoC receives SIGSEGV and physical memory is unchanged.

02

Engine v0.6.0

Risk summary

Unprivileged local users on OpenRISC systems can craft a signal frame to clear privileged bits in the supervision register during sigreturn, disabling MMU translation and gaining arbitrary read/write access to physical memory. This is a local privilege escalation affecting any OpenRISC-based device with interactive user access.

Affectedarch/openrisc/kernel/signal.c (openrisc signal handling)

Vulnerability analysis

The signal return path on OpenRISC copies the entire supervision register from the user-controlled signal frame and only clears the supervisor-mode bit before reloading it, leaving privileged control bits such as the data-MMU enable under user control. By crafting a signal frame that clears the data-MMU-enable bit, an unprivileged task can return to user space with address translation disabled, gaining direct read and write access to arbitrary physical memory. The fix restores only the arithmetic flag bits from the signal frame and preserves all privileged control bits from the kernel-saved value, so user space can no longer alter MMU or exception configuration during signal return. This is reachable by any unprivileged local process on an OpenRISC system that can install and return from a signal handler.

03

BranchIntroducedFixed inPatch commit
5.103.15.10.266bc2e24ba6e16
5.153.15.15.217cf1b5514ddf9
6.13.16.1.184cd8b43a71755
6.123.16.12.10589a91b30685c
6.183.16.18.46a88d688be8d7
6.63.16.6.153b4d73c3848ba
7.13.17.1.10212fc482ddd7
mainline3.17.232ef1b30ad73
cip/5.103.15.10.268-cip77bc2e24ba6e16
cip/5.10-rt3.15.10.268-cip77-rt34bc2e24ba6e16
cip/6.13.16.1.187-cip60cd8b43a71755
cip/6.1-rt3.16.1.189-cip61-rt32cd8b43a71755
cip/6.123.16.12.108-cip3189a91b30685c

04

State of the newest release of each Civil Infrastructure Platform SLTS tree, from CIP's own fix records.

CIP treeState
cip/6.12Fixed in 6.12.108-cip31
cip/6.1Fixed in 6.1.187-cip60
cip/6.1-rtFixed in 6.1.189-cip61-rt32
cip/5.10Fixed in 5.10.268-cip77
cip/5.10-rtFixed in 5.10.268-cip77-rt34
cip/4.19Affected — no CIP fix yet (latest 4.19.325-cip136)
cip/4.19-rtAffected — no CIP fix yet (latest 4.19.325-cip136-rt50)
cip/4.4Affected — no CIP fix yet (latest 4.4.302-cip115)
cip/4.4-rtAffected — no CIP fix yet (latest 4.4.302-cip115-rt63)