NULL pointer dereference in Linux kernel - CVE-2026-74728

Vulnerability identifier: #VU144610

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-2026-74728

CWE-ID: CWE-476

Exploitation vector: Local access

Exploit availability: No public exploit available

The vulnerability allows a local user to cause a denial of service.

The vulnerability exists due to a null pointer dereference in xfs_buf_free() when freeing a buffer after xfs_buf_alloc_backing_mem() fails. A local user can trigger the vulnerable code path to cause a denial of service.

The issue can dereference an invalid address through virt_to_folio(NULL) and crash the kernel.

Linux kernel
Debian Linux
Ubuntu
linux (Ubuntu package)
linux-aws (Ubuntu package)
linux-gcp (Ubuntu package)
linux-oracle (Ubuntu package)
linux-ibm (Ubuntu package)
linux-hwe-7.0 (Ubuntu package)
linux-oem-7.0 (Ubuntu package)
linux (Debian package)

Install security update from vendor's repository.

Linux kernel - update to 7.0 rc3
linux (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-42.42
linux-aws (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1016.17
linux-gcp (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1016.18
linux-oracle (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1015.16
linux-ibm (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1017.17
linux-hwe-7.0 (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-42.42~24.04.1
linux-oem-7.0 (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1017.17
linux (Debian package) - update to 6.12.115-2

• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/3aa0c1d23ee1b9d9b340fb2f4736536e1408d706
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ccf6738adcafa5ddbddc4e71b45d8a51b86643c7
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d852729c5f4f830fbe7413df032e29459b3daf83

• NULL pointer dereference in Linux kernel xfs
• Debian update for linux
• Ubuntu update for linux-oem-7.0
• Ubuntu update for linux, linux-aws, linux-gcp and more