Linux Kernel up to 7.1.4/7.2-rc2 liquidio liquidio_vf.c pcie_flr null pointer dereference

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability classified as problematic has been found in Linux Kernel up to 7.1.4/7.2-rc2. The affected element is the function pcie_flr of the file drivers/net/ethernet/marvell/liquidio/liquidio_vf.c of the component liquidio. The manipulation leads to null pointer dereference. This vulnerability is referenced as CVE-2026-72329. Remote exploitation of the attack is possible. No exploit is available.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as problematic, has been found in Linux Kernel up to 7.1.4/7.2-rc2. This issue affects the function pcie_flr of the file drivers/net/ethernet/marvell/liquidio/liquidio_vf.c of the component liquidio. 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: net/liquidio: drop cached VF pci_dev LUT The PF SR-IOV enable path caches VF pci_dev pointers in dpiring_to_vfpcidev_lut[] by iterating with pci_get_device(). Those entries do not own a reference, because the iterator drops the previous device reference on each step. The cached pointer is then dereferenced later when handling OCTEON_VF_FLR_REQUEST. Replace the cached VF mapping with runtime lookup on the mailbox DPI ring: derive the VF index from q_no, resolve the VF via exported PCI IOV helpers, validate it with the PF pointer and VF ID, then issue pcie_flr() and drop the reference with pci_dev_put(). Remove the unused VF lookup table initialization and cleanup.

It is possible to read the advisory at git.kernel.org. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2026-72329 since 08/09/2026. The exploitation is known to be easy. The attack may be initiated remotely. The exploitation requires an enhanced level of successful authentication. Technical details of the vulnerability are known, but there is no available exploit.

Upgrading to version 7.1.5 or 7.2-rc3 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 81acef3a247fd523513a2e9f71de1c167bc0f882/5c0e3ba4f500fd4314ceb42f07f16bc445156431 is able to eliminate this problem.

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Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 7.1.0
• 7.1.1
• 7.1.2
• 7.1.3
• 7.1.4
• 7.2-rc1
• 7.2-rc2

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

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