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Linux Kernel CVE-2026-52925

| EUVDEUVD-2026-38728 MEDIUM
NULL Pointer Dereference (CWE-476)
2026-06-24 Linux GHSA-vg8w-8f3p-9p3c
5.5
CVSS 3.1 · NVD
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Severity by source

NVD PRIMARY
5.5 MEDIUM
AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
vuln.today AI
5.5 MEDIUM

Local attack only (AV:L); bind() callable by unprivileged user (PR:L); kernel panic is complete availability loss (A:H); no confidentiality or integrity impact.

3.1 AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
4.0 AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
SUSE
MEDIUM
qualitative
Red Hat
5.5 MEDIUM
qualitative

Primary rating from NVD.

CVSS VectorNVD

Attack Vector
Local
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
Low
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

Lifecycle Timeline

5
Analysis Generated
Jul 08, 2026 - 16:09 vuln.today
CVSS changed
Jul 08, 2026 - 15:37 NVD
5.5 (MEDIUM)
Patch available
Jun 24, 2026 - 09:16 EUVD
CVE Published
Jun 24, 2026 - 07:14 cve.org
UNKNOWN (no severity yet)
CVE Published
Jun 24, 2026 - 07:14 nvd
MEDIUM 5.5

DescriptionNVD

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

vrf: Fix a potential NPD when removing a port from a VRF

RCU readers that identified a net device as a VRF port using netif_is_l3_slave() assume that a subsequent call to netdev_master_upper_dev_get_rcu() will return a VRF device. They then continue to dereference its l3mdev operations.

This assumption is not always correct and can result in a NPD [1]. There is no RCU synchronization when removing a port from a VRF, so it is possible for an RCU reader to see a new master device (e.g., a bridge) that does not have l3mdev operations.

Fix by adding RCU synchronization after clearing the IFF_L3MDEV_SLAVE flag. Skip this synchronization when a net device is removed from a VRF as part of its deletion and when the VRF device itself is deleted. In the latter case an RCU grace period will pass by the time RTNL is released.

[1] BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000000 [...] RIP: 0010:l3mdev_fib_table_rcu (net/l3mdev/l3mdev.c:181) [...] Call Trace: <TASK> l3mdev_fib_table_by_index (net/l3mdev/l3mdev.c:201 net/l3mdev/l3mdev.c:189) __inet_bind (net/ipv4/af_inet.c:499 (discriminator 3)) inet_bind_sk (net/ipv4/af_inet.c:469) __sys_bind (./include/linux/file.h:62 (discriminator 1) ./include/linux/file.h:83 (discriminator 1) net/socket.c:1951 (discriminator 1)) __x64_sys_bind (net/socket.c:1969 (discriminator 1) net/socket.c:1967 (discriminator 1) net/socket.c:1967 (discriminator 1)) do_syscall_64 (arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:63 (discriminator 1) arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:94 (discriminator 1)) entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe (arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:130)

AnalysisAI

NULL pointer dereference in the Linux kernel VRF (Virtual Routing and Forwarding) subsystem allows a local low-privileged user to crash the kernel via a race condition between RCU readers and VRF port removal operations, resulting in a complete denial of service on affected systems. Systems using VRF network segmentation are at risk specifically when VRF port membership is dynamically modified concurrent with socket bind() operations. EPSS is 0.16% (6th percentile) and the vulnerability is not listed in CISA KEV; no public exploit code has been identified, but patched kernel versions are available across all active stable branches.

Technical ContextAI

The vulnerability resides in the Linux kernel VRF subsystem (net/l3mdev/), a layer 3 master device mechanism enabling per-interface routing table separation used in network appliances, enterprise multi-tenant routing, and routing daemon deployments. The root cause (CWE-476: NULL Pointer Dereference) is a missing RCU (Read-Copy-Update) synchronization barrier after the IFF_L3MDEV_SLAVE flag is cleared during VRF port removal. RCU is the Linux kernel's lockless concurrency mechanism; readers run without locks, but writers must call synchronize_rcu() to wait for in-flight readers before removing shared state. Without this barrier, an RCU reader that identified a device as a VRF slave via netif_is_l3_slave() can subsequently call netdev_master_upper_dev_get_rcu() and receive a new master (e.g., a bridge device) that was assigned after the IFF_L3MDEV_SLAVE flag was cleared but before the flag change was fully visible to the reader. That new master lacks l3mdev operations, causing a NULL dereference when the reader calls l3mdev_fib_table_rcu() at net/l3mdev/l3mdev.c:181. The crash is triggered through the bind() syscall path: __sys_bind → __inet_bind → l3mdev_fib_table_by_index → l3mdev_fib_table_rcu. Affected CPE: cpe:2.3:a:linux:linux:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*, introduced at Linux 4.12.

RemediationAI

Upgrade to a patched Linux kernel version: 5.10.258+, 5.15.209+, 6.1.175+, 6.6.141+, 6.12.91+, 6.18.33+, 7.0.10+, or mainline 7.1+. Stable-tree patch commits are available at https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2c022f582fd16a470df6ed9e7fb7e9fc48946d49, https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4ab6fc60ed5a0344b60711b09bff1dc238d8d6a4, https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/468defa0b70902a22f4478c1207624bc1b31c124, and related backports listed in the EUVD entry EUVD-2026-38728. If immediate kernel upgrade is not possible, the race window can be operationally narrowed by avoiding dynamic VRF port membership changes (ip link set DEV nomaster / ip link set DEV master VRF) during periods of active socket operations on that VRF - this eliminates the race condition trigger, though it may be impractical in dynamic networking environments. Restricting unprivileged user access to network sockets via seccomp profiles or disabling user namespaces (sysctl kernel.unprivileged_userns_clone=0) reduces the local privilege attack surface, but note that bind() is a standard unprivileged syscall and this control has broad side effects on container workloads.

Vendor StatusVendor

SUSE

Severity: Moderate
Product Status
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP7 Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP7 Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP7 Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP7 Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 16.0 Affected

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CVE-2026-52925 vulnerability details – vuln.today

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