Out-of-bounds read in Linux kernel - CVE-2026-98838

Vulnerability identifier: #VU157206

CSH Severity: Low

CVSS v4: 6.7 [CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:H/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N]

CVE-ID: CVE-2026-98838

CWE-ID: CWE-125

Exploitation vector: Local access

Exploit availability: No public exploit available

The vulnerability allows a local privileged user to trigger an out-of-bounds kernel memory read, potentially causing a denial of service.

The vulnerability exists due to an out-of-bounds read in the Linux kernel virtual terminal and framebuffer console rendering path when processing a DEC alignment test on a background console with a changed font size. A local privileged user can configure different font sizes on visible and background consoles, enable framebuffer rotation, and write the ESC # 8 sequence to the background console to trigger rendering against a backing buffer that was not resized, potentially causing a kernel crash.

Linux kernel
SUSE Linux Micro
SUSE Linux Micro Extras
kernel-default
kernel-64kb
kernel-64kb-debugsource
kernel-64kb-devel
kernel-default-devel
kernel-syms
kernel-obs-build
kernel-obs-build-debugsource
kernel-default-debugsource
kernel-default-devel-debuginfo

Install security update from vendor's repository.

Linux kernel - update to 7.0 rc3
kernel-default - update to 6.4.0-159998.55.1
kernel-64kb - update to 6.4.0-159998.55.1
kernel-64kb-debugsource - update to 6.4.0-159998.55.1
kernel-64kb-devel - update to 6.4.0-159998.55.1
kernel-default-devel - update to 6.4.0-159998.55.1
kernel-syms - update to 6.4.0-159998.55.1
kernel-obs-build - update to 6.4.0-159998.55.1
kernel-obs-build-debugsource - update to 6.4.0-159998.55.1
kernel-default-debugsource - update to 6.4.0-159998.55.1
kernel-default-devel-debuginfo - update to 6.4.0-159998.55.1

• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0928ed9bd7946baee911efa401088697836e3b1e
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0ee53081425a1a31ce15089012cd96b8353eb44e
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2fc4e71aefab57c80ccc9775aad2af503fc90810
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/985c000b046ca4ee11ee34ef85db500c569ef6e8
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ad06f7312d3f615dd466483ce81a9b9619166686

• Out-of-bounds read in Linux kernel tty vt driver
• SUSE update for the Linux Kernel