NULL pointer dereference in Linux kernel - CVE-2026-72013
Published: August 16, 2026
Vulnerability details
The vulnerability allows a local user to cause a denial of service.
The vulnerability exists due to a NULL pointer dereference in machine_kexec_prepare() when processing kexec image segments. A local user can provide a kexec image segment with a NULL buffer pointer to cause a denial of service.
The issue occurs in the RISC-V kexec path during handling of segments prepared through kexec_file_load().
Affected software
Ubuntu
linux-nvidia (Ubuntu package)
linux-gcp-7.0 (Ubuntu package)
linux-azure-7.0 (Ubuntu package)
How to mitigate CVE-2026-72013
linux-nvidia (Ubuntu package) - addressed in versions 5.15.0-1112.113, 5.15.0.1112.112
linux-gcp-7.0 (Ubuntu package) - addressed in versions 7.0.0-38.38~24.04.4, 7.0.0-1013.13~24.04.1, 7.0.0-1014.14~24.04.1
linux-azure-7.0 (Ubuntu package) - addressed in versions 7.0.0-1016.16~24.04.1, 7.0.0-1017.17~24.04.1
External References
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/606cc45e871e34b80a2f63874f069387a5b44176
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6ad6954492697681ebcfc1beb0eb384406cd4b65
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/81bbcff0c053c4f5c711c31a9b72fc492bd96c3f
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b5f92cc4e24a298bf390b0b189a4b888c0900161
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c462e15497dc40abe369b3be7a2c91ac5d1be6f9
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d5b2752a17efc165793ae38f2c24b5ed9c04ffde
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/eadd0c2c76aee6a738f17f251434c77db3c606c8