Linux Kernel up to 6.18.52/7.2.6/7.3-rc2 IPv6 Routing net/ipv6/route.c __ip6_del_rt_siblings fib6_node 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.
8.7	$0-$5k	0.00+

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability identified as very critical has been detected in Linux Kernel up to 6.18.52/7.2.6/7.3-rc2. This affects the function __ip6_del_rt_siblings of the file net/ipv6/route.c of the component IPv6 Routing. The manipulation of the argument fib6_node leads to null pointer dereference. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2026-97974. The attack is possible to be carried out remotely. No exploit exists. You should upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.18.52/7.2.6/7.3-rc2 and classified as very critical. This issue affects the function __ip6_del_rt_siblings of the file net/ipv6/route.c of the component IPv6 Routing. The manipulation of the argument fib6_node 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: ipv6: null-check fib6_node before accessing in __ip6_del_rt_siblings() syzbot reported a null-ptr-deref in __ip6_del_rt_siblings() [0]. The stack trace hinted towards a null dereference of rt->fib6_node when fn->leaf is accessed in __ip6_del_rt_siblings(). With RTNL_FLAG_DOIT_UNLOCKED set, inet6_rtm_delroute() operations run concurrently without acquiring the RTNL lock. In ip6_route_del(), the route lookup happens under rcu_read_lock() without acquiring table->tb6_lock. Between ip6_route_del() looking up the route and __ip6_del_rt_siblings() acquiring table->tb6_lock, another thread can modify the routing table. For example, when an ECMP route is replaced via RTM_NEWROUTE with NLM_F_REPLACE, fib6_add_rt2node() unlinks all old siblings and sets iter->fib6_node = NULL. A reproducer was found that triggers this [1]. Add a check to ensure rt->fib6_node is non-null before accessing it. [0] KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000020-0x0000000000000027] RIP: 0010:__ip6_del_rt_siblings+0x31e/0x7c0 net/ipv6/route.c:4056 Call Trace: <TASK> ip6_route_del+0x1054/0x1110 net/ipv6/route.c:4232 inet6_rtm_delroute+0x5d7/0x6d0 net/ipv6/route.c:5669 rtnetlink_rcv_msg+0x802/0xc00 net/core/rtnetlink.c:7132 netlink_rcv_skb+0x226/0x4a0 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:2556 netlink_unicast_kernel net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1319 [inline] netlink_unicast+0x7f5/0x990 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1345 netlink_sendmsg+0x813/0xb40 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1900 sock_sendmsg_nosec+0x13a/0x180 net/socket.c:800 __sock_sendmsg net/socket.c:815 [inline] ____sys_sendmsg+0x565/0x870 net/socket.c:2713 ___sys_sendmsg+0x2a5/0x360 net/socket.c:2767 __sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2799 [inline] __do_sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2804 [inline] __se_sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2802 [inline] __x64_sys_sendmsg+0x1b7/0x290 net/socket.c:2802 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:61 [inline] do_syscall_64+0x166/0x520 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:84 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f </TASK> [1] https://gist.github.com/NamanGulati/0766a1159b6ca61928faaf87425ff899

It is possible to read the advisory at git.kernel.org. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2026-97974 since 09/25/2026. The exploitation is known to be easy. The attack may be initiated remotely. Additional levels of successful authentication are required for exploitation. Technical details of the vulnerability are known, but there is no available exploit. The pricing for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 09/25/2026).

Upgrading to version 6.18.53, 7.2.7 or 7.3-rc3 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch e7ff91f19c1aae039a4257fa86fe849afe185291/1155234c2227cf36072a43e1e09119472ade7ca7/cdca92eddc025fdb90071be97738f7d55a65f8dd is able to eliminate this problem. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for 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
• 6.18.52
• 7.2.0
• 7.2.1
• 7.2.2
• 7.2.3
• 7.2.4
• 7.2.5
• 7.2.6
• 7.3-rc1
• 7.3-rc2

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: 9.1
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 8.7

VulDB Base Score: 9.1
VulDB Temp Score: 8.7
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 6.18.53/7.2.7/7.3-rc3
Patch: e7ff91f19c1aae039a4257fa86fe849afe185291/1155234c2227cf36072a43e1e09119472ade7ca7/cdca92eddc025fdb90071be97738f7d55a65f8dd

Timelineinfo

09/25/2026 Advisory disclosed
09/25/2026 +0 days CVE reserved
09/25/2026 +0 days VulDB entry created
09/25/2026 +0 days VulDB entry last update

Sourcesinfo

Vendor: kernel.org

Advisory: git.kernel.org
Status: Confirmed

CVE: CVE-2026-97974 (🔒)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2026-97974
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-410027

Entryinfo

Created: 09/25/2026 13:57
Changes: 09/25/2026 13:57 (61)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

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