Copyright © 2012 Red Hat, Inc. All rights reserved. Moderate 2026-09-11T00:00:00 kernel: platform/x86: hp-bioscfg: pass validated element count to package parsers 5.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H CWE-125

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: platform/x86: hp-bioscfg: pass validated element count to package parsers The per-type package parsers are handed the wrong element count. hp_init_bios_package_attribute() validates obj->package.count and then calls one of the five hp_populate_*_package_data() wrappers (string, integer, enumeration, ordered list, password). Each wrapper forwards a count to its hp_populate_*_elements_from_package() parser, but instead of forwarding the validated obj->package.count it derives the count from elements[0]. elements[0] is the NAME field and is always an ACPI_TYPE_STRING, so reading ->package.count from it in fact reads ->string.length through the union acpi_object. The parsers thus bound themselves against the length of the name string rather than against the real number of elements in the package. This is safe today because hp_init_bios_package_attribute() refuses any package that has fewer than the type's element count, so a parser only ever runs on a full package and never reads past it regardless of the bogus bound. An upcoming change relaxes that check to accept shorter packages. Once a parser can receive fewer elements than its per-type count, a bound taken from the name length no longer reflects the array size, and the "elem < count" loop conditions and "elem + n >= count" sub-loop guards read past the end of elements[] - an out-of-bounds heap read. Forward the validated obj->package.count to every *_package_data() wrapper so the parsers bound themselves against the real package size. This does not change behaviour for the packages that enumerate correctly today and is a prerequisite for accepting shorter packages safely.

A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's hp-bioscfg module. The module's package parsers incorrectly determine the number of elements in a package, using a value derived from a name string rather than the true package size. While currently prevented by existing validation, a future change to the kernel will allow shorter packages, enabling a local attacker to craft a malicious package. This could result in an out-of-bounds heap read, potentially leading to information disclosure or system instability.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 Not affected kernel Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 Not affected kernel Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Not affected kernel Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Not affected kernel-rt Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 Not affected kernel Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 Not affected kernel-rt Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 Not affected kernel Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 Not affected kernel-rt Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 Not affected openshift/ose-rhel-coreos-8 Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 Not affected openshift/ose-rhel-coreos-9 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-81011 https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-81011 https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/security/vulns.git/plain/cve/published/2026/CVE-2026-81011.mbox