CVE-2026-80975
nicheKernel stack corruption from late MCU replies in Linux qnap-mcu driver
The Linux kernel's qnap-mcu multi-function device driver publishes an on-stack receive buffer to the serdev receive path, which is not serialized against the command-issuing function. If a command times out (or the underlying write fails) and the function returns, a late reply or an unsolicited message from the QNAP NAS microcontroller is written into a stack frame that has already been exited, corrupting whatever code next runs on that stack. Successful exploitation can yield kernel memory corruption with high impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability (CVSS 3.1: 7.8, local attack vector, low privileges required), which is a plausible path to kernel-level code execution or system crashes. Only systems running kernels that include the qnap-mcu driver for QNAP NAS microcontroller units are affected; the fix moves the 37-byte reply buffer into the driver's device-managed structure so late writes land in valid memory. No public proof of concept is known, the flaw is not on the CISA KEV list, and no exploitation in the wild has been reported.
What to do: Update affected systems to a kernel release containing the upstream qnap-mcu fix (check kernel.org and stable branch advisories for the commit that moves the reply buffer into struct qnap_mcu). Until patched, restrict local unprivileged access to affected QNAP NAS hosts and monitor for unexplained kernel oopses or crashes near serdev/MCU activity. If you run vendor firmware on QNAP NAS hardware, confirm with the vendor whether your kernel includes this driver before treating the device as affected.
| Linux kernel (kernel.org) Linux kernel, mfd: qnap-mcu driver (drivers/mfd/qnap-mcu.c) | — |
Order-of-magnitude estimate by the model from install counts, market share and public scan data it knows; verify before quoting.
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mfd: qnap-mcu: keep the reply buffer alive past a command timeout qnap_mcu_exec() publishes an on-stack buffer to the receive path: unsigned char rx[QNAP_MCU_RX_BUFFER_SIZE]; ... reply->data = rx; reply->length = length; and qnap_mcu_receive_buf() writes into it from the serdev receive path, which runs out of flush_to_ldisc() and is not serialized against qnap_mcu_exec() at all. bus_lock cannot cover it, because qnap_mcu_exec() holds that mutex across wait_for_completion_timeout(). On a timeout qnap_mcu_exec() returns with reply->data still pointing at its own frame. A reply that arrives late, or an unsolicited message from the MCU, is then written into a stack frame that has been left, corrupting whatever runs next on that stack. The same applies when qnap_mcu_write() fails, since that path returns without touching the reply state either. Move the receive buffer into struct qnap_mcu. It is 37 bytes and the structure is devm_kzalloc()ed, so it lives as long as the driver, and a late write lands in memory that is still valid and is reinitialized by the next command. bus_lock keeps commands from sharing it. This deliberately does not clear reply->data or reply->length on the timeout path. Doing so races with qnap_mcu_receive_buf(), which reads both after its if (!reply->length) return size; check: clearing reply->data gives a NULL dereference, and clearing reply->length alone removes the reply->received == reply->length exit condition, so the copy loop runs until the uart chunk is consumed and overruns the buffer. Leaving both set keeps the write bounded by reply->length, which qnap_mcu_exec() has already checked against sizeof(mcu->rx).
- Vector
- CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
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