Linux KernelOperating system · Linux
CVE-2026-23064
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedIn the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net/sched: act_ife: avoid possible NULL deref tcf_ife_encode() must make sure ife_encode() does not return NULL. syzbot reported: Oops: general protection fault, probably for non-canonical address 0xdffffc0000000000: 0000 [#1] SMP KASAN NOPTI KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000000-0x0000000000000007] RIP: 0010:ife_tlv_meta_encode+0x41/0xa0 net/ife/ife.c:166 CPU: 3 UID: 0 PID: 8990 Comm: syz.0.696 Not tainted syzkaller #0 PREEMPT(full) Call Trace: <TASK> ife_encode_meta_u32+0x153/0x180 net/sched/act_ife.c:101 tcf_ife_encode net/sched/act_ife.c:841 [inline] tcf_ife_act+0x1022/0x1de0 net/sched/act_ife.c:877 tc_act include/net/tc_wrapper.h:130 [inline] tcf_action_exec+0x1c0/0xa20 net/sched/act_api.c:1152 tcf_exts_exec include/net/pkt_cls.h:349 [inline] mall_classify+0x1a0/0x2a0 net/sched/cls_matchall.c:42 tc_classify include/net/tc_wrapper.h:197 [inline] __tcf_classify net/sched/cls_api.c:1764 [inline] tcf_classify+0x7f2/0x1380 net/sched/cls_api.c:1860 multiq_classify net/sched/sch_multiq.c:39 [inline] multiq_enqueue+0xe0/0x510 net/sched/sch_multiq.c:66 dev_qdisc_enqueue+0x45/0x250 net/core/dev.c:4147 __dev_xmit_skb net/core/dev.c:4262 [inline] __dev_queue_xmit+0x2998/0x46c0 net/core/dev.c:4798
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysisThe code follows a pointer that is null, crashing the process. An attacker who can reliably trigger it turns the crash into a denial of service. The fix is checking for null before use and handling the failure path gracefully.
General guidance for the null pointer dereference class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data
Linux KernelOperating system
>= 4.11, < 5.10.249>= 5.11, < 5.15.199>= 5.16, < 6.1.162>= 6.2, < 6.6.122>= 6.7, < 6.12.68>= 6.13, < 6.18.8= 6.19CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
dbcve · scoped5.10.2495.15.1996.1.162
Upgrade to one of: 5.10.249+, 5.15.199+, 6.1.162+, or 6.6.122+ depending on which major version branch you are using
- Identify the currently running kernel version using 'uname -r' or 'cat /proc/version'
- Compare the running version against the affected version ranges: >= 4.11 and < 5.10.249; >= 5.11 and < 5.15.199; >= 5.16 and < 6.1.162; >= 6.2 and < 6.6.122
- If affected, schedule a maintenance window for kernel upgrade
- Backup critical data before performing the upgrade
- Upgrade the Linux kernel to a version >= 5.10.249 (for 5.10.x branch), >= 5.15.199 (for 5.15.x branch), >= 6.1.162 (for 6.1.x branch), or >= 6.6.122 (for 6.6.x branch)
- Reboot the system to load the new kernel
- Verify the fix is applied by checking the kernel version and confirming the NULL pointer dereference vulnerability is resolved
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-23064 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2026-23064 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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