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CVE-2026-31742

high

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: vt: discard stale unicode buffer on alt screen exit after resize When enter_alt_screen()…

Vendor / product: Linux — linux kernel

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: vt: discard stale unicode buffer on alt screen exit after resize When enter_alt_screen() saves vc_uni_lines into vc_saved_uni_lines and sets vc_uni_lines to NULL, a subsequent console resize via vc_do_resize() skips reallocating the unicode buffer because vc_uni_lines is NULL. However, vc_saved_uni_lines still points to the old buffer allocated for the original dimensions. When leave_alt_screen() later restores vc_saved_uni_lines, the buffer dimensions no longer match vc_rows/vc_cols. Any operation that iterates over the unicode buffer using the current dimensions (e.g. csi_J clearing the screen) will access memory out of bounds, causing a kernel oops: BUG: unable to handle page fault for address: 0x0000002000000020 RIP: 0010:csi_J+0x133/0x2d0 The faulting address 0x0000002000000020 is two adjacent u32 space characters (0x20) interpreted as a pointer, read from the row data area past the end of the 25-entry pointer array in a buffer allocated for 80x25 but accessed with 240x67 dimensions. Fix this by checking whether the console dimensions changed while in the alternate screen. If they did, free the stale saved buffer instead of restoring it. The unicode screen will be lazily rebuilt via vc_uniscr_check() when next needed.

CVSS
7.8
7.8 (CVSS v3.1)
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Severity source: NVD CVSS v3.1 (416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67)
Timeline (UTC)
Published: 2026-05-01 15:16
Modified: 2026-11-11 21:10
NVD status: Modified
Last synced 5 hours ago
Verified against the source API 2026-11-11 21:11 UTC
Exploitation
Not listed in CISA KEV (as of last catalog sync)
Absence from KEV does not mean a CVE is not exploited. Exploitation status: unknown (no authoritative evidence in our sources).

Affected products

linux / linux_kernel ≥6.18.20 <6.18.22, ≥6.19.10 <6.19.12, 7.0

Weakness classification (CWE)

Source: NVD / CISA. “NVD-CWE-Other” and “NVD-CWE-noinfo” mean NVD could not assign a specific weakness.

Mitigation & advisories

Patch / mitigation: https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/40014493cece72a0be5672cd86763e53fb3ec613
Patch / mitigation: https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/428fdf55301e6c8fa5a36b426240797b1cf86570
Patch / mitigation: https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/891d790fdb5c96c6e1d2841e06ee6c360f2d1288

References

Data sources

NVD CVE API 2.0 — fetched 2026-11-11 21:11 UTC · record ↗

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