In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: fbdev: bitblit: bound-check glyph index in bit_cursor() bit_cursor(…
CVE-2026-74635 · published 22 Aug 2026
How serious is it
- Severity: high, CVSS score 7.8 out of 10.
- No exploit prediction (EPSS) score yet.
- Not on the CISA list of exploited vulnerabilities.
- No public exploit in Exploit-DB.
Is your app affected by CVE-2026-74635?
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Who is affected
- Linux Linux: 6.18
How to check
- Find out whether you run the affected product and which version, then compare it with the versions above.
How to fix
Copies a prompt for Claude Code, Cursor or Codex that asks it to check whether you run this product.
- Apply the vendor's update or mitigation from the references below. If there is none yet, limit exposure of the affected service until there is.
- If a vulnerable version was live, check your logs and rotate the secrets that server could read.
The advisory
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
fbdev: bitblit: bound-check glyph index in bit_cursor()
bit_cursor() fetches the glyph under the cursor with
c = scr_readw(vc_pos);
src = vc_font.data + ((c & charmask) * w * height);
where charmask is 0x1ff when vc_hi_font_mask is set. The screen buffer
value comes directly from scr_readw() and may be larger than the current
font's glyph count.
Syzkaller triggers this via vcs_write(). The Call Trace shows
vcs_write() in vc_screen.c writing an arbitrary 16-bit value with
writev() to /dev/vcsa, which vcs_write_buf() in vc_screen.c stores via
vcs_scr_writew() without checking charcount. The stored value is later
read in bit_cursor() in bitblit.c.
When the font is changed from a font with 512 glyphs to a font with
256 glyphs, the screen buffer can retain characters with the high
bit set from the previous mode, which could also produce the same
out-of-bounds access.
BUG: KASAN: global-out-of-bounds in soft_cursor+0x378/0x6bc drivers/video/fbdev/core/softcursor.c:70
Read of size 16 at addr ffff800086c57970
Call Trace:
soft_cursor+0x378/0x6bc drivers/video/fbdev/core/softcursor.c:70
bit_cursor+0xa90/0x1108 drivers/video/fbdev/core/bitblit.c:365
fbcon_cursor+0x344/0x498 drivers/video/fbdev/core/fbcon.c:1427
hide_cursor+0xdc/0x2d0 drivers/tty/vt/vt.c:883
update_region+0x100/0x18c drivers/tty/vt/vt.c:669
vcs_write+0x8ec/0xaf0 drivers/tty/vt/vc_screen.c:685
bit_putcs_aligned() and bit_putcs_unaligned() already clamp the glyph
index to vc_font.charcount. Apply the same clamp in bit_cursor() after
extracting the attribute and masking, before indexing fontdata.
The fix completes the bounds checking started in commit 18c4ef4e765a
("fbdev: bitblit: bound-check glyph index in bit_putcs*"), which missed
the cursor path.
This change should be safe because the clamp reuses the existing
contract from fbcon: charcount is maintained under console_lock in
con_font_set() and fbcon_font_set(), and hi_font_mask is cleared when
switching from 512 to 256 glyphs. When stale screen data with high bits
remains after a font switch, or when vcs_write() stores an arbitrary
value, clamping the index to 0 prevents the out-of-bounds read without
changing cursor semantics — the same fallback bit_putcs uses.
Check your whole app
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References
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/250159ace2dc53c1bdad267aa8da51b638748700
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/46336f476484f36145e5117e72d7b590f47433ee
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/94134d70abf9273b70499d97d0adc9185ef21091
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/9ea879862e66e354e616028c31b39aa3eb6d35d8
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/bc9db0d879c655d5dfd8add32fd60f13e65d132c
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/bf750cfeacf4e47ac72dadc7f05839696efb8576
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/c1e7351767dd30fc574395c82121e4c67b882da3
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/e033cbf3975a8465f879ebd5989dc35b04423a4d
Merged from NVD. Last updated 24 Oct 2026. All vulnerabilities · RSS · JSON