Receive Buffer Allocation Issue in Linux Kernel Affecting PN533 Devices

CVE-2026-31660

What is CVE-2026-31660?

A vulnerability exists within the Linux kernel related to the PN533 driver, where the receive buffer (skb) is not allocated before bytes are consumed. This can lead to data inconsistencies and a potential NULL dereference error if allocation fails. When pn532_receive_buf() reports accepted bytes to the serdev core, it improperly consumes bytes without having allocated a new buffer. As a result, if the memory allocation for the new receive buffer fails, the system incorrectly indicates that bytes have been processed, risking unintended behavior in subsequent operations.

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