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Linux Kernel EUVDEUVD-2026-45564

| CVE-2026-63991 MEDIUM
NULL Pointer Dereference (CWE-476)
2026-07-19 Linux GHSA-5hvm-w645-g9wh
5.5
CVSS 3.1 · NVD
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Attack ChainAIDerived

Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain

  1. Access
    Gain local low-privileged access
  2. Delivery
    Use active Bluetooth 6LoWPAN interface
  3. Exploit
    Send multicast traffic during memory pressure
  4. Execution
    skb_clone() fails returning NULL
  5. Impact
    NULL deref in send_pkt() crashes kernel

Vulnerability Assessment

Weakness
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A10:2025 - Mishandling of Exceptional Conditions
ASVS 5.0
V16 - Security Logging and Error Handling Null pointer safety, defensive checks
MITRE ATT&CK

1 technique across 1 tactic: Impact

The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up.

Exploitation Conditions

Requires the Bluetooth 6LoWPAN subsystem (net/bluetooth/6lowpan, CONFIG_BT_6LOWPAN) to be compiled in and active with at least one connected peer, so that send_mcast_pkt() is exercised during multicast transmission. The NULL pointer dereference only manifests when skb_clone() fails - i.e. under kernel memory allocation failure/memory pressure - which is not directly attacker-controlled and is the primary limiting factor on exploitability. Per the CVSS vector (AV:L/PR:L) exploitation is local and requires low-privilege access, not remote or unauthenticated; impact is limited to availability (kernel crash), with no confidentiality or integrity effect. Systems without Bluetooth 6LoWPAN enabled are not affected.

Impact

This is a low-priority, high-CVSS-does-not-apply-here case. The signals are mutually consistent and all point low: CVSS 3.1 base is 5.5 (MEDIUM) with vector AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H - purely an availability impact reachable only from a local, authenticated (PR:L) context, with no confidentiality or integrity effect. EPSS is 0.18% (7th percentile), the CVE is NOT in CISA KEV, and no public exploit was identified in the provided data, so there is no evidence of active or likely exploitation. Critically, the root cause is a missing NULL check after skb_clone() in send_mcast_pkt(); the NULL only occurs when a kernel memory allocation fails (OOM/memory pressure). An attacker cannot reliably force skb_clone() to fail on demand, so in practice this behaves more like a robustness/reliability defect triggered under memory exhaustion than a dependably weaponizable DoS. There is no SSVC decision data in the input to cross-reference. Net: a real but minor hardening fix, not an operational emergency; the only caveat is that the local low-privilege attacker must also be using the Bluetooth 6LoWPAN path, which is uncommon.

Exploit ScenarioDerived

A local, low-privileged user on a system that has the Bluetooth 6LoWPAN (BT_6LOWPAN) feature active drives multicast traffic over the 6lowpan interface while the system is under memory pressure. If skb_clone() returns NULL during fan-out in send_mcast_pkt(), send_pkt() dereferences skb->data and triggers a NULL pointer dereference, crashing the kernel (denial of service). No public exploit code is identified, and reliable triggering depends on inducing an allocation failure, which is not directly attacker-controlled.

This Month Plan within 30 days. Why: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9).
Patch available 0.2% exploitation probability (EPSS)

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AnalysisAIv1 – Oct 07, 2026

A NULL pointer dereference in the Linux kernel's Bluetooth 6LoWPAN transmit path allows a local user with low privileges to crash the kernel when memory allocation pressure causes skb_clone() to fail inside send_mcast_pkt(). Only systems with the Bluetooth 6LoWPAN subsystem compiled in and actively transmitting multicast packets to a connected peer are affected; the impact is limited to availability (denial of service via kernel crash), with no confidentiality or integrity effect. Exploitation is gated by a non-attacker-controlled precondition (allocation failure), EPSS is negligible at 0.18% (7th percentile), and no public exploit code has been identified at time of analysis, though vendor patches have been released across multiple stable branches.

RemediationAI

Vendor-released patches are available: upgrade to Linux 5.10.259, 5.15.210, 6.1.176, 6.6.143, 6.12.93, 6.18.35 or 7.0.12 (or the corresponding upstream fix commits listed above), or apply the distribution kernel update from your vendor - for Ubuntu see USN-8593-1 at https://ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-8593-1, and general details at https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-63991 and https://seclists.org/oss-sec/2026/q3/230. Because the fault only triggers when skb_clone() fails, patch priority is low relative to its nominal CVSS; nevertheless it is a trivial, low-risk kernel update. If patching must be deferred, the only effective compensating control is to remove the vulnerable code path entirely by building the kernel without CONFIG_BT_6LOWPAN, or by disabling/blocking the Bluetooth 6LoWPAN interface (e.g. powering down the Bluetooth adapter or refusing 6LoWPAN/L2CAP connection setup) so send_mcast_pkt() is never reached - the trade-off being complete loss of IPv6-over-Bluetooth mesh functionality on that host. Generic hardening such as memory-pressure tuning is not a reliable substitute, since allocation failure is the precondition rather than the attack vector itself.

Affected VersionsENISA

Linux patch: 6.18.35
Linux 18722c247023035b9e2e2a08a887adec2a9a6e49 <b06203ac5f12929d79146bb9f063c2af1d679e63
Linux 18722c247023035b9e2e2a08a887adec2a9a6e49 <9afcb5ea080af13aab37930da627db43bd277665
Linux 18722c247023035b9e2e2a08a887adec2a9a6e49 <2061d080a013c0ec0a56162cd501fb36d2befc26
Linux patch: 0
Linux patch: 7.1
Linux patch: 6.1.176
Linux patch: 5.10.259
Linux 18722c247023035b9e2e2a08a887adec2a9a6e49 <3d5d81d294ba09487c86bc4ba33dc4a4bec5d215
Linux 3.14
Linux 18722c247023035b9e2e2a08a887adec2a9a6e49 <9903a04becf059e44cccf625e23689b7d4378384
Linux patch: 6.6.143
Linux patch: 7.0.12
Linux 18722c247023035b9e2e2a08a887adec2a9a6e49 <e673889a35a5e4c586d0fae67d8755ca4367d3e2
Linux patch: 6.12.93
Linux patch: 5.15.210
Linux 18722c247023035b9e2e2a08a887adec2a9a6e49 <3c40d381ce04f9575a5d8b542898183c3b4b38dc
Linux 18722c247023035b9e2e2a08a887adec2a9a6e49 <d630c4b25f36e0e68461561e4c70957ec37fdedd

Affected Packages

euvd linux no fix

Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)

Affects your stack

Affects 1 package in euvd

Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.

Technical ContextAI · show details

The vulnerability resides in net/bluetooth/6lowpan, the kernel subsystem that carries IPv6 6LoWPAN traffic over Bluetooth Low Energy L2CAP connections (CONFIG_BT_6LOWPAN). The function send_mcast_pkt() builds per-peer copies of multicast frames via skb_clone() before handing them to send_pkt() for transmission; skb_clone() can return NULL when the kernel cannot allocate the socket-buffer metadata. The original code dereferenced the returned clone without a NULL check, so a failed allocation propagated a NULL skb into send_pkt(), which dereferences skb->data and faults in kernel context. This is CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference), a classic unchecked-return defect: the root cause is a missing error path rather than a memory-safety corruption, which is why the assessed CVSS vector raises AC to High and confines impact to availability. The fixed code adds a NULL check and simply skips the affected peer, so multicast delivery to other peers continues. Affected code is present in Linux mainline and all stable branches carrying this subsystem, identified by the CPE cpe:2.3:a:linux:linux:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*.

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  • Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources

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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 4.7 MEDIUM

Local low-priv access (AV:L/PR:L) to the 6lowpan path; AC:H because the crash requires a transient memory-allocation failure the attacker cannot reliably induce; availability-only impact (A:H).

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

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

4
CVSS changed
Oct 07, 2026 - 20:37 NVD
5.5 (MEDIUM)
Patch available
Jul 19, 2026 - 17:19 EUVD
CVE Published
Jul 19, 2026 - 14:56 cve.org
UNKNOWN (no severity yet)
CVE Published
Jul 19, 2026 - 14:56 nvd
MEDIUM 5.5

DescriptionNVD

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

Bluetooth: 6lowpan: check skb_clone() return value in send_mcast_pkt()

The skb_clone() function can return NULL if memory allocation fails. send_mcast_pkt() calls skb_clone() without checking the return value, which can lead to a NULL pointer dereference in send_pkt() when it dereferences skb->data. Add a NULL check after skb_clone() and skip the peer if the clone fails.

Threat Intelligence Overview

EPSS Score
0.2%
Top 93% exploitable
Prevalence
Ubiquitous
Linux kernel is ubiquitous, though vulnerable BT_6LOWPAN path is rarely enabled
Data Quality
4 sources
Confidence: Medium

How this decision was reached

The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.

SignalValue
Severity MEDIUM
CISA KEV No
Public POC No
EPSS 0.2%
Patch available Yes
Active threat No
Deciding rule
MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9)
What every action level means
Emergency Immediate action required. Criteria: CRITICAL + in CISA KEV (actively exploited) without patch, OR CRITICAL + EPSS > 30% without patch, OR CRITICAL + active threat signals without patch.
Act Now Prioritize within 24-48h. Criteria: in KEV with patch available, OR CRITICAL + public POC, OR HIGH + EPSS > 10%, OR CRITICAL + active threat, OR any CRITICAL severity.
This Week Schedule remediation this week. Criteria: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9). Patch within normal change window.
This Month Plan within 30 days. Criteria: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9), lower exploitation probability. Include in regular patch cycle.
Monitor Track and reassess. Criteria: LOW severity (CVSS 0.1-3.9), minimal exploitation risk. No immediate action needed.

SSVC AssessmentENISA

SSVC Decision· derived
Defer
Exploitation· derived
None
System Exposure· derived
Small
Automatable· derived
No
Human Impact· derived
Medium

Priority Score

28
Low Medium High Critical
KEV: 0
EPSS: 0
CVSS: +28
PoC: 0
Weaponized: 0
Threat intel: 0
Gov advisory: 0

Attack Technique

A null pointer dereference occurs when a program attempts to access memory through a pointer that has been set to NULL (address 0x0).

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