NULL pointer dereference in Linux kernel - CVE-2026-98841

Vulnerability identifier: #VU157209

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-2026-98841

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 by triggering a guest kernel panic.

The vulnerability exists due to a NULL pointer dereference in the Linux kernel VM Generation ID driver when a notification handler runs before driver_data is assigned during device probing. A local user can trigger a generation-change notification or a shared-line interrupt during this initialization window to cause a kernel panic, provided they can influence the relevant notification or interrupt source.

Linux kernel
Ubuntu
linux (Ubuntu package)
linux-realtime (Ubuntu package)
linux-oracle (Ubuntu package)
linux-aws (Ubuntu package)
linux-gcp (Ubuntu package)
linux-azure (Ubuntu package)
linux-raspi (Ubuntu package)
linux-ibm (Ubuntu package)
linux-oracle-7.0 (Ubuntu package)
linux-gcp-7.0 (Ubuntu package)
linux-azure-fde-7.0 (Ubuntu package)
linux-oem-7.0 (Ubuntu package)
linux-gke (Ubuntu package)
linux-azure-fde (Ubuntu package)
linux-aws-7.0 (Ubuntu package)

Install security update from vendor's repository.

Linux kernel - update to 7.0 rc3
linux (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-43.43
linux-realtime (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-43.43.1
linux-oracle (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1016.18
linux-aws (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1017.18
linux-gcp (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1017.19
linux-azure (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1020.21
linux-raspi (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1023.23
linux-ibm (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1018.18
linux-oracle-7.0 (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1016.18~24.04.1
linux-gcp-7.0 (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1017.19~24.04.1
linux-azure-fde-7.0 (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1019.19~24.04.1
linux-oem-7.0 (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1018.18
linux-gke (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1010.11
linux-azure-fde (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1019.19
linux-aws-7.0 (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1017.18~24.04.1

• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/538fe5efaa9704ad820ba34b4f9df135ca873d79
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7a1e8daeaa466c6aaffa223e1afe9cfeece0dd47
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8f42954ad8bf9bdbf574f2c437ad30cb2601f401
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9f8139c6145cf17d690d6c414d43b4c0bef632fb

• NULL pointer dereference in Linux kernel virt driver
• Ubuntu update for linux, linux-aws, linux-gcp and more
• Ubuntu update for linux-azure
• Ubuntu update for linux-aws-7.0, linux-azure-fde, linux-azure-fde-7.0 and more
• Ubuntu update for linux-raspi