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Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2026-23189

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-02-14
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 6.12.70 / 6.18.10 or later.
See remediation →
57/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Zero-click Patch available

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 · unedited
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ceph: fix NULL pointer dereference in ceph_mds_auth_match() The CephFS kernel client has regression starting from 6.18-rc1. We have issue in ceph_mds_auth_match() if fs_name == NULL: const char fs_name = mdsc->fsc->mount_options->mds_namespace; ... if (auth->match.fs_name && strcmp(auth->match.fs_name, fs_name)) { / fsname mismatch, try next one */ return 0; } Patrick Donnelly suggested that: In summary, we should definitely start decoding `fs_name` from the MDSMap and do strict authorizations checks against it. Note that the `-o mds_namespace=foo` should only be used for selecting the file system to mount and nothing else. It's possible no mds_namespace is specified but the kernel will mount the only file system that exists which may have name "foo". This patch reworks ceph_mdsmap_decode() and namespace_equals() with the goal of supporting the suggested concept. Now struct ceph_mdsmap contains m_fs_name field that receives copy of extracted FS name by ceph_extract_encoded_string(). For the case of "old" CephFS file systems, it is used "cephfs" name. [ idryomov: replace redundant %*pE with %s in ceph_mdsmap_decode(), get rid of a series of strlen() calls in ceph_namespace_match(), drop changes to namespace_equals() body to avoid treating empty mds_namespace as equal, drop changes to ceph_mdsc_handle_fsmap() as namespace_equals() isn't an equivalent substitution there ]

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 analysis
How this class of weakness works · CWE-476

The 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
Affected:>= 6.12.58, < 6.12.70>= 6.17.8, < 6.18.10= 6.19

CVSS 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 · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 6.12.70 / 6.18.10 or later
Fixed in 6.12.706.18.10
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

6.12.70+ / 6.18.10+ / 6.19.1+ (depending on your current branch)

  1. Identify the currently running kernel version using 'uname -r'
  2. Determine which stable kernel series you are on (6.12.y, 6.17.y, or 6.19)
  3. For 6.12.y series: upgrade to kernel version 6.12.70 or later
  4. For 6.17.y series: upgrade to kernel version 6.18.10 or later
  5. For 6.19.x series: upgrade to kernel version 6.19.1 or later
  6. Reboot the system to load the fixed kernel
  7. Verify the fix by checking that 'ceph_mds_auth_match()' no longer dereferences a NULL fs_name
Caveat Minimal risk; this is a bugfix for a NULL dereference. However, the underlying fix changes how mds_namespace is handled (now decoded from MDSMap), so test CephFS mounts in a non-production environment first if using mds_namespace mount options.

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2026-23189 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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