Linux Kernel up to 6.18.41/7.1.5/7.2-rc4 kexec machine_kexec.c kexec_load 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.
7.4	$0-$5k	0.77

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability marked as critical has been reported in Linux Kernel up to 6.18.41/7.1.5/7.2-rc4. The affected element is the function kexec_load of the file arch/loongarch/kernel/machine_kexec.c of the component kexec. The manipulation leads to null pointer dereference. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2026-68435. An attack has to be approached locally. There is no exploit available.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.18.41/7.1.5/7.2-rc4. It has been rated as critical. This issue affects the function kexec_load of the file arch/loongarch/kernel/machine_kexec.c of the component kexec. The manipulation 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. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: LoongArch: Fix address space mismatch in kexec command line lookup When searching the loaded segments for the "kexec" command line marker, the kexec_load(2) path (file_mode == 0) passes the user-space segment buffer straight to strncmp() through a bogus (char __user *) cast. This dereferences a user pointer in kernel context, which is wrong and is flagged by sparse: arch/loongarch/kernel/machine_kexec.c:84:51: sparse: incorrect type in argument 2 (different address spaces) @@ expected char const * @@ got char [noderef] __user * Here copy the marker-sized prefix of each segment into a small on-stack buffer with copy_from_user() before comparing, and skip segments that fault. The subsequent copy_from_user() that stages the full command line into the safe area is left unchanged.

The advisory is shared at git.kernel.org. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2026-68435 since 07/30/2026. The exploitation is known to be easy. An attack has to be approached locally. Additional levels of successful authentication are needed for exploitation. It demands that the victim is doing some kind of user interaction. Technical details are known, but no exploit is available.

Upgrading to version 6.18.42, 7.1.6 or 7.2-rc5 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch a94d6726ec8680a2b0c453fc782a543f68a1ea06/7a54e0cbaad4a5a09e7cc7a4f05d181048e98ca7/485ed44db5694d8d2e5027f63ad608e705286f30 is able to eliminate this problem.

Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

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
• 6.18.39
• 6.18.40
• 6.18.41
• 7.1.0
• 7.1.1
• 7.1.2
• 7.1.3
• 7.1.4
• 7.1.5
• 7.2-rc1
• 7.2-rc2
• 7.2-rc3
• 7.2-rc4

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: 7.7
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 7.4

VulDB Base Score: 7.7
VulDB Temp Score: 7.4
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: Partially
Local: Yes
Remote: Partially

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 6.18.42/7.1.6/7.2-rc5
Patch: a94d6726ec8680a2b0c453fc782a543f68a1ea06/7a54e0cbaad4a5a09e7cc7a4f05d181048e98ca7/485ed44db5694d8d2e5027f63ad608e705286f30

Timelineinfo

07/30/2026 CVE reserved
08/12/2026 +13 days Advisory disclosed
08/12/2026 +0 days VulDB entry created
08/12/2026 +0 days VulDB entry last update

Sourcesinfo

Vendor: kernel.org

Advisory: git.kernel.org
Status: Confirmed

CVE: CVE-2026-68435 (🔒)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2026-68435
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-388889

Entryinfo

Created: 08/12/2026 02:30
Changes: 08/12/2026 02:30 (60)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

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