CVE-2026-31442
Published: 22 April 2026
Summary
CVE-2026-31442 is a high-severity Out-of-bounds Read (CWE-125) vulnerability in Linux Linux Kernel. Its CVSS base score is 7.8 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 2.2th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 CM-7 (Least Functionality) and SI-2 (Flaw Remediation).
Threat & Defense at a Glance
Threat & Defense Details
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5)AI
Directly mitigates the vulnerability by requiring timely application of Linux kernel patches that set the deallocated scratch area to NULL after FLR, preventing invalid memory access.
Minimizes functionality by disabling the unnecessary idxd DMA driver, eliminating the attack surface for the FLR-related invalid memory access in the Linux kernel.
Implements kernel memory protections such as KASLR and SMEP to mitigate exploitation of the invalid memory access for corruption, denial of service, or privilege escalation.
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
Local kernel memory corruption flaw directly enables exploitation for privilege escalation (T1068) and endpoint DoS via system exploitation (T1499.004).
NVD Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: dmaengine: idxd: Fix possible invalid memory access after FLR In the case that the first Function Level Reset (FLR) concludes correctly, but in the second FLR the scratch area for…
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the saved configuration cannot be allocated, it's possible for a invalid memory access to happen. Always set the deallocated scratch area to NULL after FLR completes.
Deeper analysisAI
CVE-2026-31442 is a vulnerability in the Linux kernel's dmaengine idxd driver that can lead to an invalid memory access. The issue arises when the first Function Level Reset (FLR) completes successfully, but during a subsequent FLR, the scratch area for the saved configuration cannot be allocated. This flaw was published on 2026-04-22 and carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.8 (AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H).
A local attacker with low privileges can exploit this vulnerability with low complexity and no user interaction required. Successful exploitation could result in high impacts to confidentiality, integrity, and availability, potentially allowing kernel memory corruption, denial of service, or privilege escalation.
Mitigation is provided through patches in the Linux kernel stable tree, as detailed in the referenced commits: https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/504c0e6751001ac46917c73e703f2b1b92cfc026, https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/867d0c801f21370d561420fa32f2ea1a7dc3a22d, and https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d6077df7b75d26e4edf98983836c05d00ebabd8d. These patches ensure the deallocated scratch area is always set to NULL after FLR completion, preventing the invalid memory access.
Details
- CWE(s)