CVE-2026-64120
MediumCVSS 5.5Exploitation Probability (EPSS)
Low risk6th percentile - higher than 6% of all known CVEs
Summary
In the Linux kernel, a vulnerability was found where kstrdup() return values in phy_prepare_data() are not checked. A failed memory allocation for the 'name' string leads to a NULL pointer dereference in phy_reply_size() when strlen() is called, causing a kernel panic.
Risk Assessment
An attacker could intentionally trigger memory exhaustion to cause a system crash (DoS) by exploiting this flaw. The lack of allocation checks may also result in incomplete data reporting or hidden bugs.
Recommendation
Immediately update the Linux kernel to a version containing the fix that adds NULL checks for all kstrdup() calls in phy_prepare_data() and implements centralized error handling with goto labels.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
See all- CVE-2026-80577Unknown
In the Linux kernel's drm/panthor driver, panthor_fw_load_section_entry() skips BO creation for zero-sized firmware sections but adds them to the section list, leading to NULL pointer dereference in later paths. The fix skips adding such sections to the list.
- CVE-2026-80571Unknown
In the Linux kernel powerpc/pseries papr-phy-attest, missing validation of cmd.length could lead to buffer overflow. The fix adds length checks and fixes memory leaks on error paths.
- CVE-2026-80567Unknown
In the Linux kernel Synaptics RMI4 driver (F54), worker errors were not propagated to the V4L2 queue, causing stale or uninitialized data to be delivered to userspace. The fix adds error checking and marks buffers as error state.
- CVE-2026-80566Unknown
In the Linux kernel, the hynitron_cstxxx driver improperly validated touch count and finger IDs. This can lead to corrupted touch state or out-of-bounds buffer access.
- CVE-2026-80564Unknown
In the Linux kernel, the gve driver lacks an implementation of adjfine, leading to a NULL pointer dereference when triggered from userspace, e.g., via testptp.
- CVE-2026-80563Unknown
A use-after-free vulnerability was found in the Linux kernel's gpio-sloppy-logic-analyzer driver. The 'trigger' debugfs file lacked proper protection, allowing a write to freed memory during device unbind. The issue was fixed by using debugfs_create_file() instead of debugfs_create_file_unsafe().
- CVE-2026-80543Unknown
In the Linux kernel, the xcrb_msg_to_type6cprb_msgx() and xcrb_msg_to_type6_ep11cprb_msgx() functions for s390/zcrypt copy a user space message into a kernel buffer based on length, but further processing assumes 4-byte alignment. As a result, up to 3 bytes of uninitialized kernel memory are forwarded to further processing, potentially exposing kernel memory to the crypto card firmware.
- CVE-2026-80542Unknown
In the Linux kernel, the amdgpu driver for AMD Display has a NULL pointer dereference in amdgpu_dm_crtc_set_vblank() when vblank is enabled or queried before a stream is attached to acrtc_state->stream. This can lead to a system crash.
- CVE-2026-80535Unknown
In the Linux kernel XFS filesystem, during directory tree repair, a self-referential directory may be detected. In such a case, the repair code attempts to lock the same inode twice (double iolock/ilock), leading to a deadlock. The fix detects this corner case and handles it appropriately.
- CVE-2026-80533Unknown
In the Linux kernel XFS filesystem, during AGI repair, the function xrep_iunlink_walk_ondisk_bucket may attempt to use the pointer sc->sa.agi_bp, which can be null if the buffer verifier fails. The fix uses ragi->agi_bp instead, which skips verifier checks, to avoid walking off the end of memory.
Original NVD description (English source)
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: ethtool: fix NULL pointer dereference in phy_reply_size In phy_prepare_data(), several strings such as 'name', 'drvname', 'upstream_sfp_name', and 'downstream_sfp_name' are allocated using kstrdup(). However, these allocations were not checked for failure. If kstrdup() fails for 'name', it returns NULL while the function continues. This leads to a kernel NULL pointer dereference and panic later in phy_reply_size() when it unconditionally calls strlen() on the NULL pointer. While other strings like 'upstream_sfp_name' might be checked before access in certain code paths, failing to handle these allocations consistently can lead to incomplete data reporting or hidden bugs. Fix this by adding proper NULL checks for all kstrdup() calls in phy_prepare_data() and implement a centralized error handling path using goto labels to ensure all previously allocated resources are freed on failure.