Bug 2451172 (CVE-2026-23286)

Summary: CVE-2026-23286 kernel: atm: lec: fix null-ptr-deref in lec_arp_clear_vccs
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
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Priority: medium    
Version: unspecifiedKeywords: Security
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OS: Linux   
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A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's ATM LANE (LAN Emulation) module. When an Asynchronous Transfer Mode Virtual Channel Connection (atm_vcc) is shared across multiple entries, a vulnerability in the `lec_arp_clear_vccs` function can lead to a null-pointer dereference. This occurs when the function attempts to access a previously freed data structure, resulting in a system crash and a Denial of Service (DoS).
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-03-25 11:02:35 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

atm: lec: fix null-ptr-deref in lec_arp_clear_vccs

syzkaller reported a null-ptr-deref in lec_arp_clear_vccs().
This issue can be easily reproduced using the syzkaller reproducer.

In the ATM LANE (LAN Emulation) module, the same atm_vcc can be shared by
multiple lec_arp_table entries (e.g., via entry->vcc or entry->recv_vcc).
When the underlying VCC is closed, lec_vcc_close() iterates over all
ARP entries and calls lec_arp_clear_vccs() for each matched entry.

For example, when lec_vcc_close() iterates through the hlists in
priv->lec_arp_empty_ones or other ARP tables:

1. In the first iteration, for the first matched ARP entry sharing the VCC,
lec_arp_clear_vccs() frees the associated vpriv (which is vcc->user_back)
and sets vcc->user_back to NULL.
2. In the second iteration, for the next matched ARP entry sharing the same
VCC, lec_arp_clear_vccs() is called again. It obtains a NULL vpriv from
vcc->user_back (via LEC_VCC_PRIV(vcc)) and then attempts to dereference it
via `vcc->pop = vpriv->old_pop`, leading to a null-ptr-deref crash.

Fix this by adding a null check for vpriv before dereferencing
it. If vpriv is already NULL, it means the VCC has been cleared
by a previous call, so we can safely skip the cleanup and just
clear the entry's vcc/recv_vcc pointers.

The entire cleanup block (including vcc_release_async()) is placed inside
the vpriv guard because a NULL vpriv indicates the VCC has already been
fully released by a prior iteration — repeating the teardown would
redundantly set flags and trigger callbacks on an already-closing socket.

The Fixes tag points to the initial commit because the entry->vcc path has
been vulnerable since the original code. The entry->recv_vcc path was later
added by commit 8d9f73c0ad2f ("atm: fix a memory leak of vcc->user_back")
with the same pattern, and both paths are fixed here.