Linux Kernel up to 7.0.10 Integrator Early Initialization intcp_init_early null pointer dereference

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 7.0.10. It has been declared as critical. This affects the function intcp_init_early of the component Integrator Early Initialization. The manipulation results in null pointer dereference. This vulnerability is identified as CVE-2026-64165. The attack is only possible with local access. There is not any exploit available.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, was found in Linux Kernel up to 7.0.10. Affected is the function intcp_init_early of the component Integrator Early Initialization. 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. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ARM: integrator: Fix early initialization Starting with commit bdb249fce9ad4 ("ARM: integrator: read counter using syscon/regmap"), intcp_init_early calls syscon_regmap_lookup_by_compatible which in turn calls of_syscon_register. This function allocates memory. Since the memory management code has not been initialized at that time, the call always fails. It either returns -ENOMEM or crashes as follows. Unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at virtual address 0000000c when read [0000000c] *pgd=00000000 Internal error: Oops: 5 [#1] ARM Modules linked in: CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 0 Comm: swapper Not tainted 6.15.0-rc5-00026-g5fcc9bf84ee5 #1 PREEMPT Hardware name: ARM Integrator/CP (Device Tree) PC is at __kmalloc_cache_noprof+0xec/0x39c LR is at __kmalloc_cache_noprof+0x34/0x39c ... Call trace: __kmalloc_cache_noprof from of_syscon_register+0x7c/0x310 of_syscon_register from device_node_get_regmap+0xa4/0xb0 device_node_get_regmap from intcp_init_early+0xc/0x40 intcp_init_early from start_kernel+0x60/0x688 start_kernel from 0x0 The crash is seen due to a dereferenced pointer which is not supposed to be NULL but is NULL if the memory management subsystem has not been initialized. The crash is not seen with all versions of gcc. Some versions such as gcc 9.x apparently do not dereference the pointer, presumably if tracing is disabled. The problem has been reproduced with gcc 10.x, 11.x, and 13.x. Either case, if the crash is not seen, the call to syscon_regmap_lookup_by_compatible returns -ENOMEM, and sched_clock_register is never called. Fix the problem by moving the early initialization code into the standard machine initialization code.

The advisory is shared for download at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2026-64165 since 07/19/2026. The exploitability is told to be easy. The attack needs to be approached locally. There are known technical details, but no exploit is available.

Upgrading to version 5.10.258, 5.15.209, 6.1.175, 6.6.142, 6.12.92, 6.18.34 or 7.0.11 eliminates this vulnerability.

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Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 5.10.257
• 5.15.208
• 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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• 6.12.66
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• 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
• 6.12.91
• 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
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• 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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