CVE-2026-84270
Description
A flaw was found in the MTP backend in gvfs. When reading a file from a mounted MTP device, do_read() in gvfsbackendmtp.c trusts the data length returned by the device without limiting it to the original size requested by the client. If a malicious MTP device responds with more bytes than requested, this unrestricted length is passed directly to memcpy(). This causes the operation to read memory outside the intended boundaries. This allows an attacker who plugs in a malicious MTP device to cause a segmentation fault when a file is read and crash the gvfsd-mtp process, resulting in a denial of service.
Statement
To exploit this issue, an attacker needs to plug in a malicious MTP device, limiting its exposure. Furthermore, the direct security impact of this flaw is a denial of service due to the out-of-bounds read. There is no information disclosure. For these reasons, this vulnerability has been rated with a moderate severity.
Mitigation
To mitigate this vulnerability, do not connect untrusted or unknown MTP devices to the system.
Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details
Info alert:Important note
CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authority (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications).
The following CVSS metrics and score provided are preliminary and subject to review.
CVSS v3 Score Breakdown
| Red Hat | NVD | cve.org | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Score | 4.3 | N/A | 4.3 |
| Attack Vector | Physical | N/A | Physical |
| Attack Complexity | Low | N/A | Low |
| Privileges Required | None | N/A | None |
| User Interaction | Required | N/A | Required |
| Scope | Unchanged | N/A | Unchanged |
| Confidentiality | None | N/A | None |
| Integrity Impact | None | N/A | None |
| Availability Impact | High | N/A | High |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
cve.org: CVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Confidentiality
Technical Impact: Read Memory
An attacker could get secret values such as cryptographic keys, PII, memory addresses, or other information that could be used in additional attacks.
Confidentiality
Technical Impact: Bypass Protection Mechanism
Out-of-bounds memory could contain memory addresses or other information that can be used to bypass ASLR and other protection mechanisms in order to improve the reliability of exploiting a separate weakness for code execution.
Availability
Technical Impact: DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart
An attacker could cause a segmentation fault or crash by causing memory to be read outside of the bounds of the buffer. This is especially likely when the code reads a variable amount of data and assumes that a sentinel exists to stop the read operation, such as a NUL in a string.
Other
Technical Impact: Varies by Context
The read operation could produce other undefined or unexpected results.
Acknowledgements
Red Hat would like to thank Keith Linneman (LinnemanLabs) for reporting this issue.
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