Summaryinfo

A vulnerability described as critical has been identified in Linux Kernel up to 6.18.16/6.19.6. The impacted element is the function ncm_alloc_inst of the component f_ncm. Executing a manipulation can lead to null pointer dereference. This vulnerability appears as CVE-2026-23320. There is no available exploit. Upgrading the affected component is recommended.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.18.16/6.19.6. This vulnerability affects the function ncm_alloc_inst of the component f_ncm. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a null pointer dereference vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-476. A NULL pointer dereference occurs when the application dereferences a pointer that it expects to be valid, but is NULL, typically causing a crash or exit. As an impact it is known to affect availability. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: usb: gadget: f_ncm: align net_device lifecycle with bind/unbind Currently, the net_device is allocated in ncm_alloc_inst() and freed in ncm_free_inst(). This ties the network interface's lifetime to the configuration instance rather than the USB connection (bind/unbind). This decoupling causes issues when the USB gadget is disconnected where the underlying gadget device is removed. The net_device can outlive its parent, leading to dangling sysfs links and NULL pointer dereferences when accessing the freed gadget device. Problem 1: NULL pointer dereference on disconnect Unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at virtual address 0000000000000000 Call trace: __pi_strlen+0x14/0x150 rtnl_fill_ifinfo+0x6b4/0x708 rtmsg_ifinfo_build_skb+0xd8/0x13c rtmsg_ifinfo+0x50/0xa0 __dev_notify_flags+0x4c/0x1f0 dev_change_flags+0x54/0x70 do_setlink+0x390/0xebc rtnl_newlink+0x7d0/0xac8 rtnetlink_rcv_msg+0x27c/0x410 netlink_rcv_skb+0x134/0x150 rtnetlink_rcv+0x18/0x28 netlink_unicast+0x254/0x3f0 netlink_sendmsg+0x2e0/0x3d4 Problem 2: Dangling sysfs symlinks console:/ # ls -l /sys/class/net/ncm0 lrwxrwxrwx ... /sys/class/net/ncm0 -> /sys/devices/platform/.../gadget.0/net/ncm0 console:/ # ls -l /sys/devices/platform/.../gadget.0/net/ncm0 ls: .../gadget.0/net/ncm0: No such file or directory Move the net_device allocation to ncm_bind() and deallocation to ncm_unbind(). This ensures the network interface exists only when the gadget function is actually bound to a configuration. To support pre-bind configuration (e.g., setting interface name or MAC address via configfs), cache user-provided options in f_ncm_opts using the gether_opts structure. Apply these cached settings to the net_device upon creation in ncm_bind(). Preserve the use-after-free fix from commit 6334b8e4553c ("usb: gadget: f_ncm: Fix UAF ncm object at re-bind after usb ep transport error"). Check opts->net in ncm_set_alt() and ncm_disable() to ensure gether_disconnect() runs only if a connection was established.

The advisory is shared for download at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability was named CVE-2026-23320 since 01/13/2026. The exploitation appears to be difficult. There are known technical details, but no exploit is available.

Upgrading to version 6.18.17, 6.19.7 or 7.0-rc1 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch b62076e780a2121903ecf9ffdfb89c64647cb7da/188338c1827842f898761a939669cf345bdf07e2/56a512a9b4107079f68701e7d55da8507eb963d9 is able to eliminate this problem. The bugfix is ready for download at git.kernel.org. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

The vulnerability is also documented in the vulnerability database at CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2026-0861). Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.

Affected

• Open Source Linux Kernel

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 6.18.0
• 6.18.1
• 6.18.2
• 6.18.3
• 6.18.4
• 6.18.5
• 6.18.6
• 6.18.7
• 6.18.8
• 6.18.9
• 6.18.10
• 6.18.11
• 6.18.12
• 6.18.13
• 6.18.14
• 6.18.15
• 6.18.16
• 6.19.0
• 6.19.1
• 6.19.2
• 6.19.3
• 6.19.4
• 6.19.5
• 6.19.6

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

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