Linux Kernel up to 6.12.95/6.18.38/7.1.3 virtio_pci virtio_balloon.c vp_del_vqs null pointer dereference

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4.0	$0-$5k	3.17

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability categorized as problematic has been discovered in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.95/6.18.38/7.1.3. The impacted element is the function vp_del_vqs of the file drivers/virtio/virtio_balloon.c of the component virtio_pci. Such manipulation of the argument i leads to null pointer dereference. This vulnerability is listed as CVE-2026-64457. The attack must be carried out locally. There is no available exploit.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as problematic, has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.95/6.18.38/7.1.3. Affected by this issue is the function vp_del_vqs of the file drivers/virtio/virtio_balloon.c of the component virtio_pci. The manipulation of the argument i 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. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: virtio_pci: fix vq info pointer lookup via wrong index Unbinding a virtio balloon device: echo virtio0 > /sys/bus/virtio/drivers/virtio_balloon/unbind triggers a NULL pointer dereference. The dmesg says: BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000008 [...] RIP: 0010:__list_del_entry_valid_or_report+0x5/0xf0 Call Trace: <TASK> vp_del_vqs+0x121/0x230 remove_common+0x135/0x150 virtballoon_remove+0xee/0x100 virtio_dev_remove+0x3b/0x80 device_release_driver_internal+0x187/0x2c0 unbind_store+0xb9/0xe0 kernfs_fop_write_iter.llvm.11660790530567441834+0xf6/0x180 vfs_write+0x2a9/0x3b0 ksys_write+0x5c/0xd0 do_syscall_64+0x54/0x230 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x29/0x31 [...] </TASK> The virtio_balloon device registers 5 queues (inflate, deflate, stats, free_page, reporting) but only the first two are unconditional. The stats, free_page and reporting queues are each conditional on their respective feature bits. When any of these features are absent, the corresponding vqs_info entry has name == NULL, creating holes in the array. The root cause is an indexing mismatch introduced when vq info storage was changed to be passed as an argument. vp_find_vqs_msix() and vp_find_vqs_intx() store the info pointer at vp_dev->vqs[i], where 'i' is the caller's sparse array index. However, the virtqueue itself gets vq->index assigned from queue_idx, a dense index that skips NULL entries. When holes exist, 'i' and queue_idx diverge. Later, vp_del_vqs() looks up info via vp_dev->vqs[vq->index] using the dense index into the sparsely-populated array, and hits NULL. Fix this by storing info at vp_dev->vqs[queue_idx] instead of vp_dev->vqs[i], so the store index matches the lookup index (vq->index). Apply the fix to both the MSIX and INTX paths.

The advisory is available at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2026-64457 since 07/19/2026. The exploitation is known to be easy. Local access is required to approach this attack. Additional levels of successful authentication are necessary for exploitation. Successful exploitation requires user interaction by the victim. Technical details are known, but there is no available exploit.

Upgrading to version 6.12.96, 6.18.39, 7.1.4 or 7.2-rc1 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 41e6dc1a10036c9f47057033f19af7e52ec464b6/075bc3c779e1ea7294afabdcb7e0a49536959b28/64a4c0befa77bcc01076aec9f93863ffd4ed06b7/f7d380fb525c13bdd114369a1979c80c346e6abc is able to eliminate this problem.

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Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 6.12.0
• 6.12.1
• 6.12.2
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• 6.12.95
• 6.18.0
• 6.18.1
• 6.18.2
• 6.18.3
• 6.18.4
• 6.18.5
• 6.18.6
• 6.18.7
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• 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

• 🔒
• 🔒
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CPE 2.2info

• 🔒
• 🔒
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CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 4.2
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 4.0

VulDB Base Score: 4.2
VulDB Temp Score: 4.0
VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv2info

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

Vector	Complexity	Authentication	Confidentiality	Integrity	Availability
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VulDB Base Score: 🔒
VulDB Temp Score: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

Exploitinginfo

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

Physical: Partially
Local: Yes
Remote: Partially

Availability: 🔒
Status: Not defined

EPSS Score: 🔒
EPSS Percentile: 🔒

Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔒

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Threat Intelligenceinfo

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

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: Upgrade
Status: 🔍

0-Day Time: 🔒

Upgrade: Kernel 6.12.96/6.18.39/7.1.4/7.2-rc1
Patch: 41e6dc1a10036c9f47057033f19af7e52ec464b6/075bc3c779e1ea7294afabdcb7e0a49536959b28/64a4c0befa77bcc01076aec9f93863ffd4ed06b7/f7d380fb525c13bdd114369a1979c80c346e6abc

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-2026-64457 (🔒)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2026-64457
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-383258

Entryinfo

Created: 07/25/2026 18:58
Changes: 07/25/2026 18:58 (61)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

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