Linux Kernel up to 7.0.10 SMC net/smc/smc_core.c smc_v2_determine_accepted_chid null pointer dereference

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability labeled as critical has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.1.174/6.6.141/6.12.91/6.18.33/7.0.10. Affected is the function smc_v2_determine_accepted_chid of the file net/smc/smc_core.c of the component SMC. Executing a manipulation can lead to null pointer dereference. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2026-64048. The attack can be executed remotely. There is not any exploit available. The affected component should be upgraded.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.1.174/6.6.141/6.12.91/6.18.33/7.0.10 and classified as critical. This vulnerability affects the function smc_v2_determine_accepted_chid of the file net/smc/smc_core.c of the component SMC. 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: net/smc: reject CHID-0 ACCEPT that matches an empty ism_dev slot On the SMC-D client, slot 0 of ini->ism_dev[]/ini->ism_chid[] is reserved for an SMC-Dv1 device. smc_find_ism_v2_device_clnt() populates V2 entries starting at index 1, so when no V1 device is selected slot 0 is left in its kzalloc()'ed state with ism_dev[0] == NULL and ism_chid[0] == 0. smc_v2_determine_accepted_chid() then matches the peer's CHID against the array starting from index 0 using the CHID alone. A malicious peer replying to a SMC-Dv2-only proposal with d1.chid == 0 matches the empty slot, ini->ism_selected becomes 0, and the subsequent ism_dev[0]->lgr_lock dereference in smc_conn_create() faults at offsetof(struct smcd_dev, lgr_lock) == 0x68: BUG: KASAN: null-ptr-deref in _raw_spin_lock_bh+0x79/0xe0 Write of size 4 at addr 0000000000000068 by task exploit/144 Call Trace: _raw_spin_lock_bh smc_conn_create (net/smc/smc_core.c:1997) __smc_connect (net/smc/af_smc.c:1447) smc_connect (net/smc/af_smc.c:1720) __sys_connect __x64_sys_connect do_syscall_64 Require ism_dev[i] to be non-NULL before accepting a CHID match.

The advisory is shared for download at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability was named CVE-2026-64048 since 07/19/2026. The exploitation appears to be easy. The attack can be initiated remotely. No form of authentication is required for a successful exploitation. There are known technical details, but no exploit is available. The current price for an exploit might be approx. USD $0-$5k (estimation calculated on 08/23/2026).

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 338213 (RHEL 8 : kernel-rt (RHSA-2026:57254)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 6.1.175, 6.6.142, 6.12.92, 6.18.34 or 7.0.11 eliminates this vulnerability.

The vulnerability is also documented in the vulnerability database at Tenable (338213). Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 6.1.174
• 6.6.141
• 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
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• 6.12.34
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• 6.12.36
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• 6.12.48
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• 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
• 6.12.91
• 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
• 6.18.33
• 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
• 7.0.10

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

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Entryinfo

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