NULL Pointer Dereference in Linux kernel - CVE-2026-23316
Published: March 25, 2026
Vulnerability identifier: #VU124525
CSH Severity: Low
CVSS v4: 6.8 [CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N]
CVE-ID: CVE-2026-23316
CWE-ID: CWE-476
Exploitation vector: Local access
Exploit availability:
No public exploit available
Vulnerability details
The vulnerability allows a local user to cause a denial of service.
The vulnerability exists due to improper memory access in the net subsystem when handling multipath hash seed operations. A local user can trigger a kernel panic by accessing misaligned memory via atomic operations, leading to a denial of service.
The issue arises on ARM64 systems when the kernel is compiled with Clang and LTO enabled, where READ_ONCE() and WRITE_ONCE() operations on a 4-byte aligned 8-byte structure cause alignment faults or tear-write conditions.
Affected software
Linux kernel
Debian Linux
linux (Debian package)
Debian Linux
linux (Debian package)
How to mitigate CVE-2026-23316
Install security update from vendor's repository.
Linux kernel - update to 7.0 rc3
linux (Debian package) - update to 6.12.85-1
linux (Debian package) - update to 6.12.85-1