The vulnerability in the Linux kernel's aw96103 proximity sensor driver allows an attacker to supply a malformed firmware image that contains a truncated or underflowed length field. The parser reads a length from the header and walks register/value entries according to that length. When the length is smaller than the four-byte count field, it underflows resulting in a large value, causing the driver to read beyond the copied firmware buffer and potentially into unrelated kernel memory. This out‑of‑bounds read can expose sensitive data or lead to a kernel panic, giving the attacker information disclosure or denial‑of‑service capabilities.

All Linux kernel releases that include the aw96103 IIO driver without the out‑of‑bounds check are affected. The vulnerability applies to any system that loads firmware for the aw96103 proximity sensor driver. Specific version ranges are not listed in the advisory, so any kernel prior to the fix should be assumed vulnerable until a patch is applied.

No CVSS score is provided, and EPSS data is unavailable, so the exact severity cannot be quantified. However, the vulnerability can be exploited by an attacker who can supply crafted firmware to the driver, which is typically a local or privileged attacker with access to the device firmware loading mechanism. The vulnerability is not listed in CISA’s KEV catalog, indicating no known widespread exploitation at the time of reporting.