HIGH Introduced in 2.6.19
ecryptfs Tag3Packet Overflow
CVE-2026-89607
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
KernelScan AI7.8HIGH
01Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ecryptfs: reject oversized encrypted_key_size in parse_tag_3_packet parse_tag_3_packet() set encrypted_key_size from the Tag 3 packet body without bounding it against ECRYPTFS_MAX_KEY_BYTES (64). When encrypted_key_size > 64, decrypt_passphrase_encrypted_session_key() sets decrypted_key_size = encrypted_key_size and performs two out-of-bounds writes: 1. crypto_skcipher_decrypt() writes encrypted_key_size bytes into decrypted_key[64] via scatterlist, overflowing into the parent ecryptfs_auth_tok struct. 2. memcpy(crypt_stat->key, decrypted_key, decrypted_key_size) writes into crypt_stat->key[64], corrupting root_iv, keysig_list, and mutexes in ecryptfs_crypt_stat. Only AES-192 (cipher code 0x08) enables this because it sets crypt_stat->key_size = 24 independently of encrypted_key_size, allowing crypto_skcipher_setkey() to succeed while encrypted_key_size exceeds ECRYPTFS_MAX_KEY_BYTES. The PKI decryption path (parse_tag_65_packet) already validates decrypted_key_size <= ECRYPTFS_MAX_KEY_BYTES; the passphrase path omits this check. Bound encrypted_key_size against ECRYPTFS_MAX_KEY_BYTES (64) rather than ECRYPTFS_MAX_ENCRYPTED_KEY_BYTES (512). The 64-byte limit also protects the 512-byte encrypted_key[] buffer, so the former 512-byte check is removed as redundant. [tyhicks: Adjust the code comment to refer to macros representing the buffer sizes rather than mentioning the buffer size values since they may change in the future]
02KernelScan AI Analysis
Risk summary
A local unprivileged user on a system with eCryptfs in use can craft a file with a malicious metadata header that, when accessed through an eCryptfs mount, triggers two heap out-of-bounds writes into adjacent kernel structures. The corruption affects kernel mutexes, linked lists, and cryptographic state, enabling potential code execution, privilege escalation, or kernel panic. Any product that uses eCryptfs and allows untrusted users to write files to the underlying lower filesystem is at risk.
Vulnerability analysis
When eCryptfs opens a file, it parses a Tag 3 packet from the file's metadata header to recover the session encryption key. The packet body specifies an encrypted key size that the original code only bounded against a 512-byte intermediate buffer, but downstream decryption and key-copy operations write into much smaller 64-byte buffers. A crafted packet with a key size exceeding 64 bytes causes the crypto decryption to overflow the first buffer into the surrounding authentication-token structure, and a subsequent memory copy overflows the cryptographic state structure, corrupting adjacent kernel data including mutexes and linked-list heads. The fix tightens the validation in the packet parser to reject any key size larger than the 64-byte destination buffer, matching the check already present in the PKI-based key path. An attacker needs a local account on a system where eCryptfs is mounted and write access to the lower filesystem directory beneath the mount, which in typical desktop eCryptfs setups is the user's own directory and requires no special privileges.
Lifecycle
03Fix Versions
| Branch | Introduced | Fixed in | Patch commit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5.10 | 2.6.19 | 5.10.270 | 2cd213401634 |
| 6.6 | 2.6.19 | 6.6.157 | 33e050cac841 |
| 7.2 | 2.6.19 | 7.2.4 | a419c9ebfc9a |
| mainline | 2.6.19 | 7.3-rc1 | 5babe9c177c3 |
| 6.18 | 2.6.19 | 6.18.50 | 14cb36a500a5 |
| 6.12 | 2.6.19 | 6.12.109 | ccd13eff0e73 |
| 6.1 | 2.6.19 | 6.1.188 | d28024140811 |
| 5.15 | 2.6.19 | 5.15.221 | e2152d491ae6 |
| cip/6.12 | 2.6.19 | 6.12.111-cip32 | ccd13eff0e73 |