Linux Kernel up to 7.1.4 IPv6 fib6_nh_mtu_change dev 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.
7.0	$0-$5k	1.38

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical was found in Linux Kernel up to 7.1.4. This affects the function fib6_nh_mtu_change of the component IPv6. Such manipulation of the argument dev leads to null pointer dereference. This vulnerability is referenced as CVE-2026-64538. It is possible to launch the attack remotely. No exploit is available.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, has been found in Linux Kernel up to 7.1.4. Affected by this issue is the function fib6_nh_mtu_change of the component IPv6. The manipulation of the argument dev 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 confidentiality, integrity, and availability. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ipv6: Fix null-ptr-deref in fib6_nh_mtu_change(). fib6_nh_mtu_change() re-fetches idev via __in6_dev_get(arg->dev) and dereferences idev->cnf.mtu6 without a NULL check. addrconf_ifdown() clears dev->ip6_ptr with RCU_INIT_POINTER() after rt6_disable_ip() has released tb6_lock, so the RA-driven MTU walk can observe a NULL idev and oops. The caller rt6_mtu_change_route() guards its own __in6_dev_get(), but this re-fetch is unguarded; nexthop-backed routes survive addrconf_ifdown()'s flush, so the walk still reaches it after ip6_ptr is nulled. Return 0 when idev is NULL, matching rt6_mtu_change_route() and the fib6_mtu() fix in commit 5ad509c1fdad ("ipv6: Fix null-ptr-deref in fib6_mtu()."). Oops: general protection fault, ... KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x00000000000002a8-0x00000000000002af] RIP: 0010:fib6_nh_mtu_change+0x203/0x990 rt6_mtu_change_route+0x141/0x1d0 __fib6_clean_all+0xd0/0x160 rt6_mtu_change+0xb4/0x100 ndisc_router_discovery+0x24b5/0x2cb0 icmpv6_rcv+0x12e9/0x1710 ipv6_rcv+0x39b/0x410

The advisory is shared for download at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2026-64538 since 07/19/2026. The exploitation is known to be easy. The attack may be launched remotely. No form of authentication is required for 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 07/27/2026).

Upgrading to version 5.10.261, 5.15.212, 6.1.178, 6.6.145, 6.12.97, 6.18.40, 7.1.5 or 7.2-rc1 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch d08d019f2f43a6f9a71e81868bbc326b3afaf37b/1451deca9896957159f0666520a792c1b861af4f/b2c70dd3326809429b709a9c7e9220d29923051a/302d57ed7872838b40e56a868fb4c7da7da606e9/80600b5d0f3ecb9324120dc95b5e915130f516c5/b0d0eb13a0441a8ebf4f227843deaf494f1e2c33/6428634f7a0b7878144b4925c37856bef3224967/46c3b8191aad3d032776bf3bebf03efdf5f4b905 is able to eliminate this problem.

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Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 5.10.260
• 5.15.211
• 6.1.177
• 6.6.144
• 6.12.0
• 6.12.1
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• 6.12.96
• 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
• 6.18.39
• 7.1.0
• 7.1.1
• 7.1.2
• 7.1.3
• 7.1.4

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: 7.3
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 7.0

VulDB Base Score: 7.3
VulDB Temp Score: 7.0
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
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 5.10.261/5.15.212/6.1.178/6.6.145/6.12.97/6.18.40/7.1.5/7.2-rc1
Patch: d08d019f2f43a6f9a71e81868bbc326b3afaf37b/1451deca9896957159f0666520a792c1b861af4f/b2c70dd3326809429b709a9c7e9220d29923051a/302d57ed7872838b40e56a868fb4c7da7da606e9/80600b5d0f3ecb9324120dc95b5e915130f516c5/b0d0eb13a0441a8ebf4f227843deaf494f1e2c33/6428634f7a0b7878144b4925c37856bef3224967/46c3b8191aad3d032776bf3bebf03efdf5f4b905

Timelineinfo

07/19/2026 CVE reserved
07/27/2026 +8 days Advisory disclosed
07/27/2026 +0 days VulDB entry created
07/27/2026 +0 days VulDB entry last update

Sourcesinfo

Vendor: kernel.org

Advisory: git.kernel.org
Status: Confirmed

CVE: CVE-2026-64538 (🔒)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2026-64538
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-383600

Entryinfo

Created: 07/27/2026 23:19
Changes: 07/27/2026 23:19 (60)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

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