module: validate string table section types

Overview

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

module: validate string table section types

In elf_validity_cache_sechdrs, section sizes and offsets are validated, unless the section type is SHT_NULL or SHT_NOBITS.

Later, elf_validity_cache_secstrings and elf_validity_cache_index_str access the section name table (.shstrtab) and symbol string table (.strtab) headers without first ensuring that their types are SHT_STRTAB. If a section type is SHT_NULL or SHT_NOBITS, sh_offset has not been validated and may reference out-of-bounds memory when dereferenced in elf_validity_cache_secstrings or elf_validity_cache_strtab.

Validate that both string section headers are of type SHT_STRTAB before caching them.

Affected

• Linux >= c92aab819d56d51631f0484ed7af11d9d8ff4cb0 < 50d0aa7d25ba4bc3606f150cd69755068e79f97f
• Linux >= c92aab819d56d51631f0484ed7af11d9d8ff4cb0 < e4496dda2c6d0acf7ba5fbce14a2723a8935ceee
• Linux >= c92aab819d56d51631f0484ed7af11d9d8ff4cb0 < 9a5ff45689329835f874cefe5174e577d141d423
• Linux 6.13

Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.

Vendor advisories

• Red Hat VEX · Moderate · updated 2026-09-15 · vex