Linux Kernel up to 7.0.9 neigh neigh_xmit uninitialized pointer

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability described as critical has been identified in Linux Kernel up to 6.1.174/6.6.140/6.12.90/6.18.32/7.0.9. Affected is the function neigh_xmit of the component neigh. The manipulation results in uninitialized pointer. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2026-52981. No exploit is available. Upgrading the affected component is recommended.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.1.174/6.6.140/6.12.90/6.18.32/7.0.9. Affected is the function neigh_xmit of the component neigh. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a uninitialized pointer vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-824. The product accesses or uses a pointer that has not been initialized. The impact remains unknown. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: neigh: let neigh_xmit take skb ownership neigh_xmit always releases the skb, except when no neighbour table is found. But even the first added user of neigh_xmit (mpls) relied on neigh_xmit to release the skb (or queue it for tx). sashiko reported: If neigh_xmit() is called with an uninitialized neighbor table (for example, NEIGH_ND_TABLE when IPv6 is disabled), it returns -EAFNOSUPPORT and bypasses its internal out_kfree_skb error path. Because the return value of neigh_xmit() is ignored here, does this leak the SKB? Assume full ownership and remove the last code path that doesn't xmit or free skb.

The advisory is available at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2026-52981 since 06/09/2026. Technical details are known, but there is no available exploit. The structure of the vulnerability defines a possible price range of USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 06/24/2026).

Upgrading to version 6.1.175, 6.6.141, 6.12.91, 6.18.33 or 7.0.10 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 8a89054a1ec0767aec25ed2bbac933da6ba3cf5a/9247d59ca15bf60a57dca08103f055d8a4340877/0084712e0bee204b284510cdb63182fd5a30c2b7/63063ba60d2dc334e34f1e3f9271d7f3f6f30307/445e45a2c3a078316a62d2d331a570cf34ef5079/4438113be604ee67a7bf4f81da6e1cca41332ce4 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.

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Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 6.1.174
• 6.6.140
• 6.12.0
• 6.12.1
• 6.12.2
• 6.12.3
• 6.12.4
• 6.12.5
• 6.12.6
• 6.12.7
• 6.12.8
• 6.12.9
• 6.12.10
• 6.12.11
• 6.12.12
• 6.12.13
• 6.12.14
• 6.12.15
• 6.12.16
• 6.12.17
• 6.12.18
• 6.12.19
• 6.12.20
• 6.12.21
• 6.12.22
• 6.12.23
• 6.12.24
• 6.12.25
• 6.12.26
• 6.12.27
• 6.12.28
• 6.12.29
• 6.12.30
• 6.12.31
• 6.12.32
• 6.12.33
• 6.12.34
• 6.12.35
• 6.12.36
• 6.12.37
• 6.12.38
• 6.12.39
• 6.12.40
• 6.12.41
• 6.12.42
• 6.12.43
• 6.12.44
• 6.12.45
• 6.12.46
• 6.12.47
• 6.12.48
• 6.12.49
• 6.12.50
• 6.12.51
• 6.12.52
• 6.12.53
• 6.12.54
• 6.12.55
• 6.12.56
• 6.12.57
• 6.12.58
• 6.12.59
• 6.12.60
• 6.12.61
• 6.12.62
• 6.12.63
• 6.12.64
• 6.12.65
• 6.12.66
• 6.12.67
• 6.12.68
• 6.12.69
• 6.12.70
• 6.12.71
• 6.12.72
• 6.12.73
• 6.12.74
• 6.12.75
• 6.12.76
• 6.12.77
• 6.12.78
• 6.12.79
• 6.12.80
• 6.12.81
• 6.12.82
• 6.12.83
• 6.12.84
• 6.12.85
• 6.12.86
• 6.12.87
• 6.12.88
• 6.12.89
• 6.12.90
• 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
• 6.18.17
• 6.18.18
• 6.18.19
• 6.18.20
• 6.18.21
• 6.18.22
• 6.18.23
• 6.18.24
• 6.18.25
• 6.18.26
• 6.18.27
• 6.18.28
• 6.18.29
• 6.18.30
• 6.18.31
• 6.18.32
• 7.0.0
• 7.0.1
• 7.0.2
• 7.0.3
• 7.0.4
• 7.0.5
• 7.0.6
• 7.0.7
• 7.0.8
• 7.0.9

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

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