Linux Kernel up to 6.18.38/7.1.3 chacha20poly1305 chachapoly_create null pointer dereference

CVSS Meta Temp Score CVSS is a standardized scoring system to determine possibilities of attacks. The Temp Score considers temporal factors like disclosure, exploit and countermeasures. The unique Meta Score calculates the average score of different sources to provide a normalized scoring system.	Current Exploit Price (≈) Our analysts are monitoring exploit markets and are in contact with vulnerability brokers. The range indicates the observed or calculated exploit price to be seen on exploit markets. A good indicator to understand the monetary effort required for and the popularity of an attack.	CTI Interest Score Our Cyber Threat Intelligence team is monitoring different web sites, mailing lists, exploit markets and social media networks. The CTI Interest Score identifies the interest of attackers and the security community for this specific vulnerability in real-time. A high score indicates an elevated risk to be targeted for this vulnerability.
9.5	$0-$5k	3.19

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability classified as very critical has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.18.38/7.1.3. Affected by this issue is the function chachapoly_create of the component chacha20poly1305. Performing a manipulation results in null pointer dereference. This vulnerability is cataloged as CVE-2026-64314. It is possible to initiate the attack remotely. There is no exploit available.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.18.38/7.1.3. It has been classified as very critical. This affects the function chachapoly_create of the component chacha20poly1305. 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 confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: crypto: chacha20poly1305 - validate poly1305 template argument chachapoly_create() still accepts the compatibility poly1305 parameter in the template name, but it assumes the second template argument is always present and immediately passes it to strcmp(). When the argument is missing, crypto_attr_alg_name() returns an error pointer. Check for that before comparing the name so malformed template instantiations fail with an error instead of dereferencing the error pointer in strcmp(). This matches the surrounding Crypto API template pattern where crypto_attr_alg_name() results are validated before string-specific use.

The advisory is shared at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2026-64314 since 07/19/2026. The exploitability is told to be easy. It is possible to initiate the attack remotely. Technical details are known, but no exploit is available. The price for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 07/25/2026).

Upgrading to version 6.18.39, 7.1.4 or 7.2-rc1 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 0016d3c21c6ab60a20be7f565cefb5999f3adeb6/e74df53b36cdc6b6b9e5488ec883d1d55624737f/265b861bece38318b8e0fc8fac0643d4ef906d31 is able to eliminate this problem.

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
• 6.18.17
• 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
• 6.18.34
• 6.18.35
• 6.18.36
• 6.18.37
• 6.18.38
• 7.1.0
• 7.1.1
• 7.1.2
• 7.1.3

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

• 🔒
• 🔒
• 🔒

CPE 2.2info

• 🔒
• 🔒
• 🔒

CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 9.9
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 9.5

VulDB Base Score: 9.9
VulDB Temp Score: 9.5
VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv2info

AV	AC	Au	C	I	A
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳

Vector	Complexity	Authentication	Confidentiality	Integrity	Availability
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock

VulDB Base Score: 🔒
VulDB Temp Score: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

Exploitinginfo

Class: Null pointer dereference
CWE: CWE-476 / CWE-404
CAPEC: 🔒
ATT&CK: 🔒

Physical: No
Local: No
Remote: Yes

Availability: 🔒
Status: Not defined

EPSS Score: 🔒
EPSS Percentile: 🔒

Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔒

0-Day	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Today	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Interest: 🔍
Active Actors: 🔍
Active APT Groups: 🔍

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: Upgrade
Status: 🔍

0-Day Time: 🔒

Upgrade: Kernel 6.18.39/7.1.4/7.2-rc1
Patch: 0016d3c21c6ab60a20be7f565cefb5999f3adeb6/e74df53b36cdc6b6b9e5488ec883d1d55624737f/265b861bece38318b8e0fc8fac0643d4ef906d31

Timelineinfo

07/19/2026 CVE reserved
07/25/2026 +6 days Advisory disclosed
07/25/2026 +0 days VulDB entry created
07/25/2026 +0 days VulDB entry last update

Sourcesinfo

Vendor: kernel.org

Advisory: git.kernel.org
Status: Confirmed

CVE: CVE-2026-64314 (🔒)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2026-64314
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-383109

Entryinfo

Created: 07/25/2026 14:49
Changes: 07/25/2026 14:49 (59)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

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Discussion

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