Linux Kernel up to 6.19.6/7.0-rc2 ice libeth_rx_fq_create null pointer dereference

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.19.6/7.0-rc2. It has been classified as critical. This impacts the function libeth_rx_fq_create of the component ice. Performing a manipulation results in null pointer dereference. This vulnerability was named CVE-2026-23353. There is no available exploit. Upgrading the affected component is recommended.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.19.6/7.0-rc2. This affects the function libeth_rx_fq_create of the component ice. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a null pointer dereference vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as 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. This is going to have an impact on availability. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ice: fix crash in ethtool offline loopback test Since the conversion of ice to page pool, the ethtool loopback test crashes: BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 000000000000000c #PF: supervisor write access in kernel mode #PF: error_code(0x0002) - not-present page PGD 1100f1067 P4D 0 Oops: Oops: 0002 [#1] SMP NOPTI CPU: 23 UID: 0 PID: 5904 Comm: ethtool Kdump: loaded Not tainted 6.19.0-0.rc7.260128g1f97d9dcf5364.49.eln154.x86_64 #1 PREEMPT(lazy) Hardware name: [...] RIP: 0010:ice_alloc_rx_bufs+0x1cd/0x310 [ice] Code: 83 6c 24 30 01 66 41 89 47 08 0f 84 c0 00 00 00 41 0f b7 dc 48 8b 44 24 18 48 c1 e3 04 41 bb 00 10 00 00 48 8d 2c 18 8b 04 24 <89> 45 0c 41 8b 4d 00 49 d3 e3 44 3b 5c 24 24 0f 83 ac fe ff ff 44 RSP: 0018:ff7894738aa1f768 EFLAGS: 00010246 RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: 0000000000000000 RCX: 0000000000000000 RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 0000000000000700 RDI: 0000000000000000 RBP: 0000000000000000 R08: ff16dcae79880200 R09: 0000000000000019 R10: 0000000000000001 R11: 0000000000001000 R12: 0000000000000000 R13: 0000000000000000 R14: 0000000000000000 R15: ff16dcae6c670000 FS: 00007fcf428850c0(0000) GS:ff16dcb149710000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 000000000000000c CR3: 0000000121227005 CR4: 0000000000773ef0 PKRU: 55555554 Call Trace: <TASK> ice_vsi_cfg_rxq+0xca/0x460 [ice] ice_vsi_cfg_rxqs+0x54/0x70 [ice] ice_loopback_test+0xa9/0x520 [ice] ice_self_test+0x1b9/0x280 [ice] ethtool_self_test+0xe5/0x200 __dev_ethtool+0x1106/0x1a90 dev_ethtool+0xbe/0x1a0 dev_ioctl+0x258/0x4c0 sock_do_ioctl+0xe3/0x130 __x64_sys_ioctl+0xb9/0x100 do_syscall_64+0x7c/0x700 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x76/0x7e [...] It crashes because we have not initialized libeth for the rx ring. Fix it by treating ICE_VSI_LB VSIs slightly more like normal PF VSIs and letting them have a q_vector. It's just a dummy, because the loopback test does not use interrupts, but it contains a napi struct that can be passed to libeth_rx_fq_create() called from ice_vsi_cfg_rxq() -> ice_rxq_pp_create().

It is possible to read the advisory at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2026-23353 since 01/13/2026. The exploitability is told to be difficult. Technical details of the vulnerability are known, but there is no available exploit.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 303762 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2026-23353), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 6.19.7 or 7.0-rc3 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 85c98b81849e4724ae99005a6cccd33cab9cfd18/a9c354e656597aededa027d63d2ff0973f6b033f 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 Tenable (303762). Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 6.19.0
• 6.19.1
• 6.19.2
• 6.19.3
• 6.19.4
• 6.19.5
• 6.19.6
• 7.0-rc1
• 7.0-rc2

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

• 🔒
• 🔒
• 🔒

CPE 2.2info

• 🔒
• 🔒
• 🔒

CVSSv4info

CVSSv3info

CVSSv2info

Exploitinginfo

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Countermeasuresinfo

Timelineinfo

Sourcesinfo

Entryinfo

Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

Discussion