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Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2026-43164

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-05-06
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 6.18.16 / 6.19.6 or later.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges 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: udplite: Fix null-ptr-deref in __udp_enqueue_schedule_skb(). syzbot reported null-ptr-deref of udp_sk(sk)->udp_prod_queue. [0] Since the cited commit, udp_lib_init_sock() can fail, as can udp_init_sock() and udpv6_init_sock(). Let's handle the error in udplite_sk_init() and udplitev6_sk_init(). [0]: BUG: KASAN: null-ptr-deref in instrument_atomic_read include/linux/instrumented.h:82 [inline] BUG: KASAN: null-ptr-deref in atomic_read include/linux/atomic/atomic-instrumented.h:32 [inline] BUG: KASAN: null-ptr-deref in __udp_enqueue_schedule_skb+0x151/0x1480 net/ipv4/udp.c:1719 Read of size 4 at addr 0000000000000008 by task syz.2.18/2944 CPU: 1 UID: 0 PID: 2944 Comm: syz.2.18 Not tainted syzkaller #0 PREEMPTLAZY Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 10/25/2025 Call Trace: <IRQ> dump_stack_lvl+0xe8/0x150 lib/dump_stack.c:120 kasan_report+0xa2/0xe0 mm/kasan/report.c:595 check_region_inline mm/kasan/generic.c:-1 [inline] kasan_check_range+0x264/0x2c0 mm/kasan/generic.c:200 instrument_atomic_read include/linux/instrumented.h:82 [inline] atomic_read include/linux/atomic/atomic-instrumented.h:32 [inline] __udp_enqueue_schedule_skb+0x151/0x1480 net/ipv4/udp.c:1719 __udpv6_queue_rcv_skb net/ipv6/udp.c:795 [inline] udpv6_queue_rcv_one_skb+0xa2e/0x1ad0 net/ipv6/udp.c:906 udp6_unicast_rcv_skb+0x227/0x380 net/ipv6/udp.c:1064 ip6_protocol_deliver_rcu+0xe17/0x1540 net/ipv6/ip6_input.c:438 ip6_input_finish+0x191/0x350 net/ipv6/ip6_input.c:489 NF_HOOK+0x354/0x3f0 include/linux/netfilter.h:318 ip6_input+0x16c/0x2b0 net/ipv6/ip6_input.c:500 NF_HOOK+0x354/0x3f0 include/linux/netfilter.h:318 __netif_receive_skb_one_core net/core/dev.c:6149 [inline] __netif_receive_skb+0xd3/0x370 net/core/dev.c:6262 process_backlog+0x4d6/0x1160 net/core/dev.c:6614 __napi_poll+0xae/0x320 net/core/dev.c:7678 napi_poll net/core/dev.c:7741 [inline] net_rx_action+0x60d/0xdc0 net/core/dev.c:7893 handle_softirqs+0x209/0x8d0 kernel/softirq.c:622 do_softirq+0x52/0x90 kernel/softirq.c:523 </IRQ> <TASK> __local_bh_enable_ip+0xe7/0x120 kernel/softirq.c:450 local_bh_enable include/linux/bottom_half.h:33 [inline] rcu_read_unlock_bh include/linux/rcupdate.h:924 [inline] __dev_queue_xmit+0x109c/0x2dc0 net/core/dev.c:4856 __ip6_finish_output net/ipv6/ip6_output.c:-1 [inline] ip6_finish_output+0x158/0x4e0 net/ipv6/ip6_output.c:219 NF_HOOK_COND include/linux/netfilter.h:307 [inline] ip6_output+0x342/0x580 net/ipv6/ip6_output.c:246 ip6_send_skb+0x1d7/0x3c0 net/ipv6/ip6_output.c:1984 udp_v6_send_skb+0x9a5/0x1770 net/ipv6/udp.c:1442 udp_v6_push_pending_frames+0xa2/0x140 net/ipv6/udp.c:1469 udpv6_sendmsg+0xfe0/0x2830 net/ipv6/udp.c:1759 sock_sendmsg_nosec net/socket.c:727 [inline] __sock_sendmsg+0xe5/0x270 net/socket.c:742 __sys_sendto+0x3eb/0x580 net/socket.c:2206 __do_sys_sendto net/socket.c:2213 [inline] __se_sys_sendto net/socket.c:2209 [inline] __x64_sys_sendto+0xde/0x100 net/socket.c:2209 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:63 [inline] do_syscall_64+0xd2/0xf20 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:94 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x76/0x7e RIP: 0033:0x7f67b4d9c629 Code: ff c3 66 2e 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 00 0f 1f 44 00 00 48 89 f8 48 89 f7 48 89 d6 48 89 ca 4d 89 c2 4d 89 c8 4c 8b 4c 24 08 0f 05 <48> 3d 01 f0 ff ff 73 01 c3 48 c7 c1 e8 ff ff ff f7 d8 64 89 01 48 RSP: 002b:00007f67b5c98028 EFLAGS: 00000246 ORIG_RAX: 000000000000002c RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 00007f67b5015fa0 RCX: 00007f67b4d9c629 RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 0000000000000000 RDI: 0000000000000003 RBP: 00007f67b4e32b39 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 0000000000000000 R10: 0000000000040000 R11: 0000000000000246 R12: 0000000000000000 R13: 00007f67b5016038 R14: 00007f67b5015fa0 R15: 00007ffe3cb66dd8 </TASK>

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:>= 6.18, < 6.18.16>= 6.19, < 6.19.6= 7.0

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
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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 6.18.16 / 6.19.6 or later
Fixed in 6.18.166.19.6
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Linux Kernel 6.18.16 (or later 6.18.x), 6.19.6 (or later 6.19.x), or 7.1+ (or later 7.x)

  1. Identify the currently running kernel version using 'uname -r' or 'cat /proc/version'
  2. Check available kernel versions in your distribution's package repository (e.g., apt list --installed | grep linux-image, yum list installed kernel, dnf list installed kernel)
  3. Upgrade the kernel to version 6.18.16 or later in the 6.18.x branch, OR version 6.19.6 or later in the 6.19.x branch, OR to version 7.1 or later in the 7.x branch
  4. Reboot the system to load the new kernel
  5. Verify the fix by confirming the running kernel version is now >= 6.18.16, >= 6.19.6, or >= 7.1 using 'uname -r'
Caveat Kernel upgrades may require matching kernel headers/modules and could require rebuilding third-party kernel modules; ensure compatibility with system requirements before upgrading

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

We can perform the upgrade in your staging environment and verify nothing breaks — typical engagement from $3,200. Get the upgrade done

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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-2026-43164 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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