Linux Kernel dma-fence kernel/dma/fence.c dma_fence_timeline_name/dma_fence_driver_name null pointer dereference

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability classified as very critical has been found in Linux Kernel. Affected by this issue is the function dma_fence_timeline_name/dma_fence_driver_name of the file kernel/dma/fence.c of the component dma-fence. Performing a manipulation results in null pointer dereference. This vulnerability is identified as CVE-2026-72094. The attack can be initiated remotely. There is not any exploit available.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as very critical has been found in Linux Kernel (version now known). This affects the function dma_fence_timeline_name/dma_fence_driver_name of the file kernel/dma/fence.c of the component dma-fence. 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: dma-buf: dma-fence: Fix potential NULL pointer dereference The commit mentioned in the fixes tag below introduced a mechanism through which fence producers can fully decouple from fence consumers. This, desirable, mechanism is based on the fence's signaled-bit as the "decoupling point". A sophisticated interaction between RCU and atomic instructions attempts to ensure that fence consumers can still interact with fence producers through the dma_fence_ops (callback pointers into the producer). This is the desired behavior: to check for decoupling, the signaled-bit is first checked. If it's not yet signaled, RCU ensures that the ops pointer cannot yet be NULL. Hereby, dma_fence_signal_timestamp_locked() first sets the signaled-bit, and then sets the ops pointer to NULL. Readers first load the ops pointer, and then check through the signaled-bit whether the pointer can legally be accessed. These set and load operations could occur out of order on weakly ordered platforms. This problem can be solved very elegantly by using the ops pointer itself as the synchronization point. The pointer is either NULL, or cannot become NULL while it is being used thanks to RCU. Replace the signaled-bit check in dma_fence_timeline_name() and dma_fence_driver_name().

The advisory is shared at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2026-72094 since 08/09/2026. 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 08/15/2026).

Applying the patch 15ecfdf0ef6f6d874d0a26690d300857b39ebfd0 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

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

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