Linux Kernel up to 6.12.111/6.18.54/7.2.8/7.3-rc4 Xe drm/xe/vm xe_vm_close_and_put pt_root 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.
6.0	$0-$5k	1.33-

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.111/6.18.54/7.2.8/7.3-rc4 and classified as critical. This vulnerability affects the function xe_vm_close_and_put of the file drm/xe/vm of the component Xe. Such manipulation of the argument pt_root leads to null pointer dereference. This vulnerability is documented as CVE-2026-98510. The attack can be executed remotely. There is not any exploit available. It is suggested to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.111/6.18.54/7.2.8/7.3-rc4. It has been rated as critical. Affected by this issue is the function xe_vm_close_and_put of the file drm/xe/vm of the component Xe. The manipulation of the argument pt_root 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. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: drm/xe/vm: nuke PTs only after unlinking contested VMAs In xe_vm_close_and_put(), external-BO VMAs are queued on the contested list for deferred destruction via xe_vma_destroy_unlocked(). However, xe_vm_pt_destroy() was previously invoked before processing contested VMAs, destroying vm->pt_root while those VMAs were still linked to their respective buffer objects (vm_bo->list.gpuva). If a concurrent thread evicts one of those shared buffer objects, xe_bo_trigger_rebind() holding only bo->resv walks the BO's VMAs and, in fault mode, calls xe_vm_invalidate_vma() -> xe_pt_zap_ptes(). Because vm->pt_root[tile->id] is already NULL, dereferencing pt->level causes a NULL ptr deref. Fix this by deferring xe_vm_free_scratch() and xe_vm_pt_destroy() until after all contested VMAs have been unlinked and destroyed. User is reporting hitting a NULL ptr deref in xe_pt_zap_ptes(), which could be explained by this race. (cherry picked from commit c2863648959489767f08892fd6e90577d2ea0b6a)

The advisory is shared for download at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2026-98510 since 09/25/2026. The exploitation is known to be easy. The attack may be launched remotely. There are known technical details, but no exploit is available. The current price for an exploit might be approx. USD $0-$5k (estimation calculated on 10/18/2026).

Upgrading to version 6.12.112, 6.18.55, 7.2.9 or 7.3-rc5 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 70fddc065ac80845ffd33095b3635d59883cf7e6/ba678c2b02e0d36b53deb5a6d5e5ea044d36def7/bddaa5e4094c134452c29e20a26c4718827e4cb1/24a22fb3c731474b68e986af6804db450fb88617 is able to eliminate this problem. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

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Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 6.12.111
• 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
• 6.18.53
• 6.18.54
• 7.2.0
• 7.2.1
• 7.2.2
• 7.2.3
• 7.2.4
• 7.2.5
• 7.2.6
• 7.2.7
• 7.2.8
• 7.3-rc1
• 7.3-rc2
• 7.3-rc3
• 7.3-rc4

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: 6.3
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 6.0

VulDB Base Score: 6.3
VulDB Temp Score: 6.0
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 6.12.112/6.18.55/7.2.9/7.3-rc5
Patch: 70fddc065ac80845ffd33095b3635d59883cf7e6/ba678c2b02e0d36b53deb5a6d5e5ea044d36def7/bddaa5e4094c134452c29e20a26c4718827e4cb1/24a22fb3c731474b68e986af6804db450fb88617

Timelineinfo

09/25/2026 CVE reserved
10/18/2026 +23 days Advisory disclosed
10/18/2026 +0 days VulDB entry created
10/18/2026 +0 days VulDB entry last update

Sourcesinfo

Vendor: kernel.org

Advisory: git.kernel.org
Status: Confirmed

CVE: CVE-2026-98510 (🔒)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2026-98510
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-422216

Entryinfo

Created: 10/18/2026 21:05
Changes: 10/18/2026 21:05 (61)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

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