Summaryinfo

A vulnerability has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.18.16/6.19.6/7.0-rc1 and classified as critical. Affected by this vulnerability is the function bq_enqueue of the component bpf. The manipulation of the argument q[] leads to null pointer dereference. This vulnerability is documented as CVE-2026-23342. The attack needs to be performed locally. There is not any exploit available. The affected component should be upgraded.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.18.16/6.19.6/7.0-rc1 and classified as critical. This issue affects the function bq_enqueue of the component bpf. The manipulation of the argument q[] with an unknown input leads to a null pointer dereference vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to 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. Impacted is availability. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: bpf: Fix race in cpumap on PREEMPT_RT On PREEMPT_RT kernels, the per-CPU xdp_bulk_queue (bq) can be accessed concurrently by multiple preemptible tasks on the same CPU. The original code assumes bq_enqueue() and __cpu_map_flush() run atomically with respect to each other on the same CPU, relying on local_bh_disable() to prevent preemption. However, on PREEMPT_RT, local_bh_disable() only calls migrate_disable() (when PREEMPT_RT_NEEDS_BH_LOCK is not set) and does not disable preemption, which allows CFS scheduling to preempt a task during bq_flush_to_queue(), enabling another task on the same CPU to enter bq_enqueue() and operate on the same per-CPU bq concurrently. This leads to several races: 1. Double __list_del_clearprev(): after bq->count is reset in bq_flush_to_queue(), a preempting task can call bq_enqueue() -> bq_flush_to_queue() on the same bq when bq->count reaches CPU_MAP_BULK_SIZE. Both tasks then call __list_del_clearprev() on the same bq->flush_node, the second call dereferences the prev pointer that was already set to NULL by the first. 2. bq->count and bq->q[] races: concurrent bq_enqueue() can corrupt the packet queue while bq_flush_to_queue() is processing it. The race between task A (__cpu_map_flush -> bq_flush_to_queue) and task B (bq_enqueue -> bq_flush_to_queue) on the same CPU: Task A (xdp_do_flush) Task B (cpu_map_enqueue) ---------------------- ------------------------ bq_flush_to_queue(bq) spin_lock(&q->producer_lock) /* flush bq->q[] to ptr_ring */ bq->count = 0 spin_unlock(&q->producer_lock) bq_enqueue(rcpu, xdpf) <-- CFS preempts Task A --> bq->q[bq->count++] = xdpf /* ... more enqueues until full ... */ bq_flush_to_queue(bq) spin_lock(&q->producer_lock) /* flush to ptr_ring */ spin_unlock(&q->producer_lock) __list_del_clearprev(flush_node) /* sets flush_node.prev = NULL */ <-- Task A resumes --> __list_del_clearprev(flush_node) flush_node.prev->next = ... /* prev is NULL -> kernel oops */ Fix this by adding a local_lock_t to xdp_bulk_queue and acquiring it in bq_enqueue() and __cpu_map_flush(). These paths already run under local_bh_disable(), so use local_lock_nested_bh() which on non-RT is a pure annotation with no overhead, and on PREEMPT_RT provides a per-CPU sleeping lock that serializes access to the bq. To reproduce, insert an mdelay(100) between bq->count = 0 and __list_del_clearprev() in bq_flush_to_queue(), then run reproducer provided by syzkaller.

It is possible to read the advisory at git.kernel.org. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2026-23342 since 01/13/2026. The exploitation is known to be difficult. Attacking locally is a requirement. Technical details of the vulnerability are known, but there is no available exploit.

Upgrading to version 6.18.17, 6.19.7 or 7.0-rc2 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 7466ae2aeed483de80c5d8dea0913cf74038b652/e67299e1044349ad0088d52c6bc5764cc1816c06/869c63d5975d55e97f6b168e885452b3da20ea47 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.

If you want to get the best quality for vulnerability data then you always have to consider VulDB.

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
• 7.0-rc1

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

Discussion