CVE-2026-43428 | USB: core: Limit the length of unkillable synchronous timeouts

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: USB: core: Limit the length of unkillable synchronous timeouts The usb_control_msg(), usb_bulk_msg(), and usb_interrupt_msg() APIs in usbcore allow unlimited timeout durations. And since they use uninterruptible waits, this leaves open the possibility of hanging a task for an indefinitely long time, with no way to kill it short of unplugging the target device. To prevent this sort of problem, enforce a maximum limit on the length of these unkillable timeouts. The limit chosen here, somewhat arbitrarily, is 60 seconds. On many systems (although not all) this is short enough to avoid triggering the kernel's hung-task detector. In addition, clear up the ambiguity of negative timeout values by treating them the same as 0, i.e., using the maximum allowed timeout.

Published: 2026-05-08 Last update: 2026-05-20 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2026-43428 is rated Low Risk (22.9/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.12%). Mandatory action: Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2026-43428

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-15 0.02% 0.12% +0.10%
2 2026-05-09 0.02%

Full EPSS history (2 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2026-43428

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
1.8 3.6 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2026-43428

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2026-43428

GHSA-xwm3-969p-pfmw · Severity: medium — In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: USB: core: Limit the length...

OS Trackers for CVE-2026-43428

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2026-43428 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (linux), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2026-43428
redhat low https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-43428
suse low CVE-2026-43428 severity low: SUSE including 16 source package names (cluster-md-kmp-default, dlm-kmp-default, …), 53 product×package rows across 13 product lines (SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP7, SUSE Linux Enterprise Live Patching 15 SP7, … (13 product lines)): Known Not Affected 53. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-43428/
ubuntu medium CVE-2026-43428 medium priority: Ubuntu including 161 source packages (linux, linux-allwinner-5.19, …), 1449 status rows across 9 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, questing, resolute, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 1048, ignored 173, needed 130, released 83, not-affected 10, needs-triage 5. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2026-43428

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2026-43428

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 2.6.12.1, < 5.10.253 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.11, < 5.15.203 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.16, < 6.1.167 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.2, < 6.6.130 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.7, < 6.12.78 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.13, < 6.18.19 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.19, < 6.19.9 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 2.6.12 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:2.6.12:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 2.6.12 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:2.6.12:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 2.6.12 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:2.6.12:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 2.6.12 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:2.6.12:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 2.6.12 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:2.6.12:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.0:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.0:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.0:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.0:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2026-43428

cvelogic Threat Intelligence