CVE-2026-53184: linux NULL Pointer Dereference

Vulnerability summary

CVE-2026-53184 is a high (CVSS 7.5) NULL Pointer Dereference vulnerability in linux. EPSS estimates a 0.49% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 40.8% of scored vulnerabilities.

Timeline

1. 25-06-2026
   PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
2. 19-10-2026
   Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: udp: clear skb->dev before running a sockmap verdict On the UDP receive path skb->dev is repurposed as dev_scratch (the truesize/state cache set by udp_set_dev_scratch()), through the union { struct net_device *dev; unsigned long dev_scratch; } in sk_buff. When a UDP socket is in a sockmap, sk_data_ready is sk_psock_verdict_data_ready(), which calls udp_read_skb() -> recv_actor() (sk_psock_verdict_recv) to run the attached SK_SKB verdict program in softirq. If that program calls a socket-lookup helper (bpf_sk_lookup_tcp/udp, bpf_skc_lookup_tcp), bpf_skc_lookup() does: if (skb->dev) caller_net = dev_net(skb->dev); skb->dev still holds the dev_scratch value (a non-NULL integer), so dev_net() dereferences it as a struct net_device * and the kernel takes a general protection fault on a non-canonical address in softirq: Oops: general protection fault, probably for non-canonical address 0x1010000800004a0 CPU: 1 UID: 0 PID: 1406 Comm: syz.2.19 Not tainted 7.1.0-rc6 #1 PREEMPT(full) RIP: 0010:bpf_skc_lookup net/core/filter.c:7033 [inline] RIP: 0010:bpf_sk_lookup+0x45/0x160 net/core/filter.c:7047 Call Trace: <IRQ> bpf_prog_4675cb904b7071f8+0x12e/0x14e bpf_prog_run_pin_on_cpu+0xc6/0x1f0 sk_psock_verdict_recv+0x1ba/0x350 udp_read_skb+0x31a/0x370 sk_psock_verdict_data_ready+0x2e3/0x600 __udp_enqueue_schedule_skb+0x4c8/0x650 udpv6_queue_rcv_one_skb+0x3ec/0x740 udp6_unicast_rcv_skb+0x11d/0x140 ip6_protocol_deliver_rcu+0x61e/0x950 ip6_input_finish+0xa9/0x150 NF_HOOK+0x286/0x2f0 ip6_input+0x117/0x220 NF_HOOK+0x286/0x2f0 __netif_receive_skb+0x85/0x200 process_backlog+0x374/0x9a0 __napi_poll+0x4f/0x1c0 net_rx_action+0x3b0/0x770 handle_softirqs+0x15a/0x460 do_softirq+0x57/0x80 </IRQ> The rmem charge that dev_scratch accounted for is released by skb_recv_udp() on dequeue, just above, so the scratch is dead by the time recv_actor() runs. Clear skb->dev so bpf_skc_lookup() falls back to sock_net(skb->sk), which skb_set_owner_sk_safe() set just above.

• CWE-476NULL Pointer DereferenceThe product dereferences a pointer that it expects to be valid but is NULL.