CVE-2026-64451
Low risk· EPSS 6%Exploitation Probability (EPSS)
Low risk6th percentile - higher than 6% of all known CVEs
Summary
A NULL pointer dereference vulnerability was found in the func_set_flag() function in the Linux kernel tracing subsystem. When the active tracer is switched from 'function' to another (e.g., 'wakeup_rt'), the current_trace_flags field becomes NULL, and the function reads it before verifying the tracer type, causing a kernel crash.
Risk Assessment
A local attacker can trigger a kernel crash (DoS) by writing to a tracer option file (e.g., func_stack_trace) after the active tracer has been changed, leading to system disruption.
Recommendation
Apply the kernel patch from your distributor immediately, which moves the tracer check before the pointer dereference. If unavailable, temporarily avoid changing the tracer while option file descriptors are open.
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: tracing: Fix NULL pointer dereference in func_set_flag() func_set_flag() dereferences tr->current_trace_flags before verifying that the current tracer is actually the function tracer. When the active tracer has been switched away from "function" (e.g., to "wakeup_rt"), tr->current_trace_flags can be NULL, leading to a NULL pointer dereference and kernel crash. The call chain that triggers this is: trace_options_write() -> __set_tracer_option() -> trace->set_flag() /* func_set_flag */ In func_set_flag(), the first operation is: if (!!set == !!(tr->current_trace_flags->val & bit)) This dereferences tr->current_trace_flags unconditionally. The safety check that guards against a non-function tracer: if (tr->current_trace != &function_trace) return 0; is placed *after* the dereference, which is too late. This was observed with the following crash dump: BUG: unable to handle page fault at 0000000000000000 RIP: func_set_flag+0xd Call Trace: __set_tracer_option+0x27 trace_options_write+0x75 vfs_write+0x12a ksys_write+0x66 do_syscall_64+0x5b RIP: ffffffff914c973d RSP: ff67ec88b01dfdf0 RFLAGS: 00010202 RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: ff3a826e80354580 RCX: 0000000000000001 RDX: 0000000000000001 RSI: 0000000000000000 RDI: ffffffff93918080 The disassembly confirms the fault: func_set_flag+0: mov 0x1f08(%rdi), %rax ; RAX = tr->current_trace_flags = NULL func_set_flag+13: mov (%rax), %eax ; page fault: dereference NULL At the time of the crash: tr->current_trace_flags = 0x0 (NULL) tr->current_trace = wakeup_rt_tracer (not function_trace) The scenario is that a process opens a function tracer option file (such as "func_stack_trace"), then the current tracer is switched to another tracer (e.g., "wakeup_rt"), which sets current_trace_flags to NULL. When the process subsequently writes to the option file, func_set_flag() is invoked and crashes on the NULL dereference. Fix this by moving the current_trace check before the current_trace_flags dereference, so that func_set_flag() returns early when the function tracer is not active.