---
id: "CVE-2026-99153"
kind: "vulnerability"
aliases: ["CVE-2026-99153"]
title: "Linux kernel: iSCSI Reject PDU can complete arbitrary tasks"
severity: "unknown"
cvss: null
epss: null
exploited: false
status: "open"
category: "infrastructure"
products: []
ecosystems: []
tags: ["infrastructure", "iscsi", "kernel", "linux", "self-hosted", "storage"]
not_affected_if: ["iscsi-modules-not-loaded", "no-iscsi-in-use"]
published_at: "2026-10-28T11:17:35+00:00"
first_seen_at: "2026-10-28T11:32:35+00:00"
updated_at: "2026-10-28T11:35:55+00:00"
sources: [{"source": "nvd", "url": "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-99153", "first_seen_at": "2026-10-28T11:32:35+00:00"}]
---

# Linux kernel: iSCSI Reject PDU can complete arbitrary tasks

The Linux kernel's iSCSI initiator (libiscsi) trusts the task tag in a Reject PDU sent by the target, so a malicious or compromised target can name any task in the pool. This can crash the kernel or complete an in-flight SCSI read as successful without its data.

_Summary, check and fix written by a model from the sources; labelled as such._

## How to check

- `uname -r` to see the running kernel version, then compare with the fixed kernel in the vendor advisory
- `lsmod | grep -i iscsi` to check whether the iSCSI initiator modules (libiscsi, iscsi_tcp) are loaded
- unknown whether the sources give a specific affected version range

## Fix

- Update to a Linux kernel release that includes the upstream libiscsi fix (the commit validating the ITT in iscsi_handle_reject), via your distribution's kernel package
- unknown whether a specific fixed version number is given by the sources

## Timeline

- 2026-10-28T11:32:35+00:00 nvd https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-99153

## From the sources

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

scsi: libiscsi: Validate the ITT reflected in a Reject PDU

A Reject PDU carries a copy of the header it rejects, and
iscsi_handle_reject() takes the ITT out of that copy to find the task to
clean up:

      memcpy(&rejected_pdu, data, sizeof(struct iscsi_hdr));
      ...
      task = iscsi_itt_to_task(conn, rejected_pdu.itt);

That value is whatever the target put there. iscsi_itt_to_task() bounds
the index against cmds_max and checks nothing else, so any task in the
pool can be named, and iscsi_nop_out_rsp() then completes it.

An index that has never been used gives a NULL task->conn: the pool is
zeroed at session setup and conn is assigned only when a task is
allocated. If the task was used and returned, iscsi_complete_task() hits
its WARN_ON_ONCE(task->state == ISCSI_TASK_FREE) and the refcount
underflows. An in-flight SCSI command is completed as successful - a 1
MiB read returned 1048576 with none of its buffer written and no
warning.

Validate the reflected ITT the way iscsi_itt_to_ctask() validates a
command ITT, and require the task to be in flight and not a SCSI
command.

[    6.248477] Oops: general protection fault, probably for non-canonical address 0xdffffc000000000c: 0000 [#1] SMP KASAN NOPTI
[    6.249357] KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000060-0x0000000000000067]
[    6.249951] CPU: 1 UID: 0 PID: 0 Comm: swapper/1 Not tainted 7.2.0-rc5-ISCSI1-gf5098b6bae76 #1 PREEMPT(lazy)
[    6.250718] Hardware name: QEMU Ubuntu 24.04 PC v2 (i440FX + PIIX, arch_caps fix, 1996), BIOS 1.16.3-debian-1.16.3-2 04/01/2014
[    6.251616] RIP: 0010:iscsi_nop_out_rsp.constprop.0+0x46/0x160
[    6.252043] Code: c1 ea 03 48 83 ec 08 80 3c 02 00 0f 85 f5 00 00 00 48 b8 00 00 00 00 00 fc ff df 48 8b 6b 58 48 8d 7d 60 48 89 fa 48 c1 ea 03 <80> 3c 02 00 0f 85 c0 00 00 00 48 8b 45 60 48 39 c3 74 50 48 b8 00
[    6.252813] RSP: 0018:ffff88806c907b80 EFLAGS: 00010206
[    6.253042] RAX: dffffc0000000000 RBX: ffff88800607e000 RCX: ffffffff8d571a25
[    6.253345] RDX: 000000000000000c RSI: ffff88806c907c38 RDI: 0000000000000060
[    6.253642] RBP: 0000000000000000 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: fffffbfff235a504
[    6.253947] R10: 0000000000000003 R11: 7463656e6e6f6320 R12: 0000000000000000
[    6.254251] R13: 0000000000000000 R14: ffff88806c907c38 R15: 0000000000000000
[    6.254549] FS:  0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff8880d95bc000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
[    6.254887] CS:  0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
[    6.255140] CR2: 00007fc393e8ffc0 CR3: 0000000005252006 CR4: 0000000000770ef0
[    6.255439] PKRU: 55555554
[    6.255564] Call Trace:
[    6.255674]  <IRQ>
[    6.255768]  __iscsi_complete_pdu+0x18bf/0x22a0
[    6.256733]  iscsi_complete_pdu+0x54/0xa0
[    6.256905]  iscsi_tcp_data_recv_done+0xf4/0x250
[    6.257103]  iscsi_tcp_recv_skb+0x31e/0xec0
[    6.257680]  iscsi_sw_tcp_recv+0x12f/0x390
[    6.258061]  __tcp_read_sock+0x1ab/0x810
[    6.258853]  iscsi_sw_tcp_data_ready+0x18b/0x510
[    6.259808]  tcp_data_queue+0x1f13/0x4cd0
[    6.260567]  tcp_rcv_established+0x8a5/0x3a00
[    6.261931]  tcp_v4_do_rcv+0x449/0x960
[    6.262269]  tcp_v4_rcv+0x2245/0x3bc0

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_Free to read at a human pace. An API with keys and an MCP server are in preparation; early access: hello@infrastack.ai_