NULL pointer dereference in Linux kernel - CVE-2026-98717

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Main Vulnerability Database Vulnerabilities #VU157057

NULL pointer dereference in Linux kernel - CVE-2026-98717

Published: October 22, 2026


Vulnerability identifier: #VU157057
CSH Severity: Low
CVSS v4: 5.7 [CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N]
CVE-ID: CVE-2026-98717
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 through a kernel NULL pointer dereference.

The vulnerability exists due to a null pointer dereference in the Linux kernel KVM x86 shadow page-table walker when memory-slot creation races with a stage-2 page fault from a nested guest (L2). A local user can trigger this race to cause a shadow page-table walk through a dummy root backed by the zero page, resulting in a kernel crash.


Affected software

Linux kernel
SUSE Linux Micro
SUSE Linux Micro Extras
kernel-default
kernel-64kb
kernel-64kb-debugsource
kernel-64kb-devel
kernel-default-devel
kernel-syms
kernel-obs-build
kernel-obs-build-debugsource
kernel-default-debugsource
kernel-default-devel-debuginfo

How to mitigate CVE-2026-98717

Install security update from vendor's repository.

Linux kernel - update to 7.0 rc3
kernel-default - update to 6.4.0-159998.55.1
kernel-64kb - update to 6.4.0-159998.55.1
kernel-64kb-debugsource - update to 6.4.0-159998.55.1
kernel-64kb-devel - update to 6.4.0-159998.55.1
kernel-default-devel - update to 6.4.0-159998.55.1
kernel-syms - update to 6.4.0-159998.55.1
kernel-obs-build - update to 6.4.0-159998.55.1
kernel-obs-build-debugsource - update to 6.4.0-159998.55.1
kernel-default-debugsource - update to 6.4.0-159998.55.1
kernel-default-devel-debuginfo - update to 6.4.0-159998.55.1

External References

Related Security Bulletins