Linux Kernel up to 6.18.51/7.2.5 netdevsim nsim_queue_start napi_id use after free

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.
9.5	$5k-$25k	0.00

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability identified as very critical has been detected in Linux Kernel up to 6.18.51/7.2.5. Affected is the function nsim_queue_start of the component netdevsim. The manipulation of the argument napi_id leads to use after free. This vulnerability is referenced as CVE-2026-90113. Remote exploitation of the attack is possible. No exploit is available. You should upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.18.51/7.2.5 and classified as very critical. This issue affects the function nsim_queue_start of the component netdevsim. The manipulation of the argument napi_id with an unknown input leads to a use after free vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-416. Referencing memory after it has been freed can cause a program to crash, use unexpected values, or execute code. Impacted is confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: netdevsim: update queue NAPI association on queue reset In netdevsim, receive queues (struct nsim_rq) embed their own struct napi_struct. When queue reset is performed (e.g. via queue_reset debugfs), nsim_queue_start() swaps in a newly allocated struct nsim_rq, and nsim_queue_mem_free() later deletes and frees the old one. However, nsim_queue_start() failed to update the queue-to-NAPI mapping via netif_queue_set_napi(). As a result, dev->_rx[idx].napi continued to point to the old NAPI struct. After the old queue was freed, a subsequent queue dump via Netlink (NETDEV_CMD_QUEUE_GET) triggered a KASAN slab-use-after-free read in nla_put_napi_id() when accessing rxq->napi->napi_id. Fix this by calling netif_queue_set_napi() in nsim_queue_start() to associate the new NAPI with the RX queue, and clear the association with netif_queue_set_napi(..., NULL) in nsim_del_napi() during teardown.

The advisory is shared at git.kernel.org. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2026-90113 since 09/11/2026. The exploitation is known to be easy. The attack may be initiated remotely. Technical details are known, but no exploit is available. The price for an exploit might be around USD $5k-$25k at the moment (estimation calculated on 09/17/2026).

Upgrading to version 6.18.52, 7.2.6 or 7.3-rc1 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch b8f32b0804b4bf0cba0ee0a093e3fd74f11d7166/db038ac4dca0fa626199e9c297eddd8362be0550/07e98a4d5e9c292eae97c9cc5ab0937384e48492 is able to eliminate this problem. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

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
• 6.18.42
• 6.18.43
• 6.18.44
• 6.18.45
• 6.18.46
• 6.18.47
• 6.18.48
• 6.18.49
• 6.18.50
• 6.18.51
• 7.2.0
• 7.2.1
• 7.2.2
• 7.2.3
• 7.2.4
• 7.2.5

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: 9.9
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 9.5

VulDB Base Score: 9.9
VulDB Temp Score: 9.5
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: Use after free
CWE: CWE-416 / CWE-119
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 6.18.52/7.2.6/7.3-rc1
Patch: b8f32b0804b4bf0cba0ee0a093e3fd74f11d7166/db038ac4dca0fa626199e9c297eddd8362be0550/07e98a4d5e9c292eae97c9cc5ab0937384e48492

Timelineinfo

09/11/2026 CVE reserved
09/17/2026 +6 days Advisory disclosed
09/17/2026 +0 days VulDB entry created
09/17/2026 +0 days VulDB entry last update

Sourcesinfo

Vendor: kernel.org

Advisory: git.kernel.org
Status: Confirmed

CVE: CVE-2026-90113 (🔒)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2026-90113
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-406625

Entryinfo

Created: 09/17/2026 19:30
Changes: 09/17/2026 19:30 (60)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

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

Discussion

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