The linux kernel’s txgbe network driver contains a buffer overflow that occurs during EEPROM read operations. The function txgbe_read_eeprom_hostif() copies round_up(length,4) bytes into a caller buffer allocated with exactly 'length' bytes. When the requested length is not a multiple of four, the copy overruns the buffer boundary, corrupting adjacent heap memory. This overflow can lead to a kernel crash or, if an attacker supplies controlled data, to execution of arbitrary code in kernel space.

This vulnerability affects the Linux kernel's txgbe driver, which provides 10‑Gigabit Ethernet controller support. No specific kernel versions are listed, so the flaw may be present in any kernel release containing the unpatched txgbe code.

The EPSS score is less than 1 %, indicating a very low probability of exploitation, and the issue is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog. The CVSS score of 7.8 indicates high impact severity. The overflow is triggered by user‑space operations that read the module EEPROM, such as ethtool commands or related IOCTLs on a txgbe network interface. Based on the description, it appears the overflow can be triggered from user space; if local privileges are available, this may enable exploitation of kernel memory.