CVE-2026-89973: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: nvme-tcp: check the data direction of a C2HData PDU nvme_tcp_handle_c2h

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: nvme-tcp: check the data direction of a C2HData PDU nvme_tcp_handle_c2h_data() finds the r

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: nvme-tcp: check the data direction of a C2HData PDU nvme_tcp_handle_c2h_data() finds the request by command id and checks that it has a payload, but it does not check that the command asked for data to be read. A controller that answers a write command with C2HData therefore reaches nvme_tcp_recv_data(), where _copy_to_iter() hits WARN_ON_ONCE(i->data_source) and returns 0. The receive path turns that into -EFAULT and resets the controller. No data is copied, so this is not memory corruption. What a controller gets is a kernel warning it can raise at will, which is fatal on a host booted with panic_on_warn. The send path already knows the direction - it consults rq_data_dir() when it builds a command - and nvme_tcp_handle_r2t() checks the length and the offset of the request it names. The C2HData path does not check the direction at all. Reject a C2HData PDU whose command is not a read. Rejecting it fails the command and resets the controller, as the neighbouring check in this function does; what goes away is the warning. [ 6.885580] ------------[ cut here ]------------ [ 6.886457] WARNING: lib

Description from the National Vulnerability Database, published by 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

What it means for a small business

Linux is on the computers, phones or browsers your team uses every day. Turn on automatic updates and restart: most of these fixes only take effect after a restart.

How likely is an attack? The Exploit Prediction Scoring System, run by FIRST (the global association of security response teams), puts the odds of this one being exploited in the next 30 days at 0.61%, higher than 49% of CVEs. That’s low, but low isn’t zero, and the odds jump the day someone publishes an exploit. Scored October 28, 2026, updated daily.

Check your own setup

Website check: reads what your site runs from the outside (WordPress version, plugins it can see, old server software) and matches it against this database.
Server check: what your web server says about itself, and whether that version has known flaws.

Sources

Part of the Huttenlocher Technologies vulnerability database, refreshed twice a day from CISA and the NVD. The title, category and plain-language guidance are ours; check the linked record before acting on a detail. This is general guidance, not a review of your systems.

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