CVE-2026-89971 PUBLISHED

nvme: skip the zoned limits update if the zone info query failed

Assigner: Linux
Reserved: 11.09.2026 Published: 16.09.2026 Updated: 16.09.2026

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

nvme: skip the zoned limits update if the zone info query failed

nvme_query_zone_info() returns either a negative errno or a positive NVMe status code, but nvme_update_ns_info_block() only tests for the negative case:

<pre>ret = nvme_query_zone_info(ns, lbaf, &zi); if (ret < 0) goto out; </pre>

If the device fails the Identify Namespace (I/O Command Set specific) command, or the Identify Controller command issued by nvme_set_max_append(), the positive status falls through and setup continues with the zero-initialized zone info. nvme_update_zone_info() then marks the queue zoned with chunk_sectors and ns->head->zsze set to zero.

blk_validate_zoned_limits() does not check chunk_sectors, so the limits commit succeeds. blk_revalidate_disk_zones() does reject the zero zone size, but by then the limits are live and nothing rolls them back, so I/O keeps being submitted to a zoned queue with a zero zone size and disk_zone_no() shifts by ilog2(0):

nvme0n1: Invalid non power of two zone size (0) UBSAN: shift-out-of-bounds in include/linux/blkdev.h:747:16 shift exponent -1 is negative disk_zone_no include/linux/blkdev.h:747 [inline] bio_straddles_zones include/linux/blkdev.h:1058 [inline] blk_zone_wplug_handle_write block/blk-zoned.c:1423 [inline] blk_zone_plug_bio.cold+0x25/0x1c8 block/blk-zoned.c:1605 blk_mq_submit_bio+0x18fb/0x2870 block/blk-mq.c:3196 submit_bh_wbc+0x575/0x740 fs/buffer.c:2824 __block_write_full_folio+0x728/0xdd0 fs/buffer.c:1933

Any device, firmware or NVMe-oF target that fails this one command reaches this.

Skip the zoned limits update in that case, and log which of the two things happened: during a revalidation the queue keeps the zone geometry it was last validated with, and on a first scan the namespace is registered without zoned limits, so that it is still available as a handle for admin commands. Neither of the paths in nvme_query_zone_info() that return a positive status logs anything, so the failure would otherwise be silent.

zi.zone_size is an exact indicator: every path that returns a positive status returns before it is assigned, and after that the only failure left is -ENODEV, which the caller already handles.

Found by FuzzNvme.

Metrics

CVSS Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
CVSS Score: 7.5

AV:N - The NVMe host core parses Identify responses during namespace scan for PCIe and NVMe-oF (nvme-tcp/rdma/fc). A malicious or compromised NVMe-oF target over routable TCP (typically 4420) can fail the ZNS Identify command and trigger the bug from the network. AC:L - A malicious controller only needs to report CSI=ZNS then return a positive NVMe status on Identify CSI-NS or Identify CSI-CTRL; nvme_update_ns_info_block() treats that as success and installs zero zone geometry with no race or victim-specific layout. PR:N - The attacker is the connected NVMe-oF peer and needs no host account or capability. NVMe/TCP TLS and DH-HMAC-CHAP are optional and off by default, matching prior NVMe-oF host CNA scoring as PR:N. UI:N - Namespace scan and AEN Notice Namespace Changed rescans run in nvme_wq once a controller exists, including nvmf-autoconnect. Partition probe and filesystem writeback then submit I/O that hits disk_zone_no with no extra victim action at exploit time. S:U - The invalid zoned limits and UBSAN shift occur in the host kernel block layer. This is not a VM escape, IOMMU bypass, or other cross-authority boundary. C:N - The flaw leaves zi zero-initialized and later does sector >> ilog2(0) in disk_zone_no. That is an undefined shift, not an out-of-bounds read, use-after-free, or other kernel memory disclosure primitive. I:N - nvme_update_zone_info() only programs this queue's chunk_sectors and zsze to zero from uncleared zi. There is no out-of-bounds write, use-after-free, or attacker-controlled write/control-flow hijack primitive. A:H - FuzzNvme reproduced UBSAN shift-out-of-bounds in disk_zone_no on live I/O after zoned limits committed with zone size 0. CONFIG_UBSAN_TRAP and panic_on_warn panic the host, which kernel CNA guidance scores as high availability.

Product Status

Vendor Linux
Product Linux
Versions Default: unaffected
  • affected from c85c9ab926a592e2f59f7d9a6ca7d6562843d8fa to 7fad53ae2052a2b4fc7ca567d6555bdb1176ba35 (excl.)
  • affected from c85c9ab926a592e2f59f7d9a6ca7d6562843d8fa to bb6dafa79040357cf5043836e1db108c2af8b1e1 (excl.)
  • affected from c85c9ab926a592e2f59f7d9a6ca7d6562843d8fa to 3838e80fcfb32e62baffb63c6dc0a60153665a4d (excl.)
Vendor Linux
Product Linux
Versions Default: affected
  • Version 6.9 is affected
  • unaffected from 0 to 6.9 (excl.)
  • unaffected from 6.18.52 to 6.18.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 7.2.5 to 7.2.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 7.3-rc2 to * (incl.)

References