Linux Kernel up to 6.18.39/7.1.4 dualpi2 net/sched/sch_dualpi2.c qdisc_tree_reduce_backlog 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	0.94+

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.18.39/7.1.4. This affects the function qdisc_tree_reduce_backlog of the file net/sched/sch_dualpi2.c of the component dualpi2. The manipulation results in null pointer dereference. This vulnerability is reported as CVE-2026-74266. The attack can be launched remotely. No exploit exists.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.18.39/7.1.4. Affected is the function qdisc_tree_reduce_backlog of the file net/sched/sch_dualpi2.c of the component dualpi2. 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. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net/sched: sch_dualpi2: Do not call qdisc_tree_reduce_backlog during peek before restoring qlen Whenever dualpi2 drops packets during peek, it calls qdisc_tree_reduce_backlog. An issue arises because it calls qdisc_tree_reduce_backlog before it reincrements the qlen. If qlen drops to zero, but peek returns an skb, the parent's qlen_notify callback will be executed even though dualpi2 still has 1 packet on the queue and, thus, mistakenly deactivates the parent's class which leads to a null-ptr-deref: [ 101.427314][ T599] Oops: general protection fault, probably for non-canonical address 0xdffffc0000000009: 0000 [#1] SMP KASAN NOPTI [ 101.427755][ T599] KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000048-0x000000000000004f] [ 101.428048][ T599] CPU: 2 UID: 0 PID: 599 Comm: ping Not tainted 7.1.0-rc5-00284-gbce53c430ed7 #102 PREEMPT(full) [ 101.428400][ T599] Hardware name: Bochs Bochs, BIOS Bochs 01/01/2011 [ 101.428608][ T599] RIP: 0010:qfq_dequeue (net/sched/sch_qfq.c:1150) sch_qfq [ 101.428821][ T599] Code: 00 fc ff df 80 3c 02 00 0f 85 46 0c 00 00 4c 8d 73 48 48 89 9d b8 02 00 00 48 b8 00 00 00 00 00 fc ff df 4c 89 f2 48 c1 ea 03 <80> 3c 02 00 0f 85 2d 0c 00 00 48 b8 00 00 00 00 00 fc ff df 4c 8b All code [ 101.429348][ T599] RSP: 0018:ffff8881110df4f0 EFLAGS: 00010216 [ 101.429541][ T599] RAX: dffffc0000000000 RBX: 0000000000000000 RCX: dffffc0000000000 [ 101.429763][ T599] RDX: 0000000000000009 RSI: 00000024c0000000 RDI: ffff88811436c2b0 [ 101.429985][ T599] RBP: ffff88811436c000 R08: ffff88811436c280 R09: 1ffff11021277523 [ 101.430206][ T599] R10: 1ffff11021277526 R11: 1ffff11021277527 R12: 00000024c0000000 [ 101.430423][ T599] R13: ffff88811436c2b8 R14: 0000000000000048 R15: 0000000020000000 [ 101.430642][ T599] FS: 00007f61813e1c40(0000) GS:ffff8881691ef000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 [ 101.430913][ T599] CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 [ 101.431100][ T599] CR2: 00005651650850a8 CR3: 000000010ca0b000 CR4: 0000000000750ef0 [ 101.431320][ T599] PKRU: 55555554 [ 101.431433][ T599] Call Trace: [ 101.431544][ T599] <TASK> [ 101.431628][ T599] __qdisc_run (net/sched/sch_generic.c:322 net/sched/sch_generic.c:427 net/sched/sch_generic.c:445) [ 101.431792][ T599] ? dev_qdisc_enqueue (./include/trace/events/qdisc.h:49 (discriminator 22) net/core/dev.c:4176 (discriminator 22)) [ 101.431941][ T599] __dev_queue_xmit (./include/net/pkt_sched.h:120 ./include/net/pkt_sched.h:117 net/core/dev.c:4292 net/core/dev.c:4831) Fix this by only calling qdisc_tree_reduce_backlog in peek after the qlen is restored.

The advisory is available at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2026-74266 since 08/15/2026. The exploitability is told to be easy. It is possible to launch the attack remotely. The exploitation doesn't require any form of authentication. Technical details are known, but there is no available exploit. The structure of the vulnerability defines a possible price range of USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 08/15/2026).

Upgrading to version 6.18.40, 7.1.5 or 7.2-rc1 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch bd851b10daee7199a658458b8ce250e95a334500/466f29477cae2bd1982a066d518a9b20c5a37924/15cd0c93bf4f892d66bc7a93667e2357b5673365 is able to eliminate this problem.

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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
• 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 6.18.40/7.1.5/7.2-rc1
Patch: bd851b10daee7199a658458b8ce250e95a334500/466f29477cae2bd1982a066d518a9b20c5a37924/15cd0c93bf4f892d66bc7a93667e2357b5673365

Timelineinfo

08/15/2026 Advisory disclosed
08/15/2026 +0 days CVE reserved
08/15/2026 +0 days VulDB entry created
08/15/2026 +0 days VulDB entry last update

Sourcesinfo

Vendor: kernel.org

Advisory: git.kernel.org
Status: Confirmed

CVE: CVE-2026-74266 (🔒)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2026-74266
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-390222

Entryinfo

Created: 08/15/2026 08:38
Changes: 08/15/2026 08:38 (60)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

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