Bug 2451191 (CVE-2026-23293)

Summary: CVE-2026-23293 kernel: net: vxlan: fix nd_tbl NULL dereference when IPv6 is disabled
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
Status: NEW --- QA Contact:
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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 Virtual Extensible LAN (VXLAN) module. When IPv6 is disabled, a remote attacker can trigger a system crash by injecting a specially crafted IPv6 packet into the network interface. This vulnerability, a null pointer dereference, can lead to a denial of service.
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-03-25 11:03:47 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

net: vxlan: fix nd_tbl NULL dereference when IPv6 is disabled

When booting with the 'ipv6.disable=1' parameter, the nd_tbl is never
initialized because inet6_init() exits before ndisc_init() is called
which initializes it. If an IPv6 packet is injected into the interface,
route_shortcircuit() is called and a NULL pointer dereference happens on
neigh_lookup().

 BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000380
 Oops: Oops: 0000 [#1] SMP NOPTI
 [...]
 RIP: 0010:neigh_lookup+0x20/0x270
 [...]
 Call Trace:
  <TASK>
  vxlan_xmit+0x638/0x1ef0 [vxlan]
  dev_hard_start_xmit+0x9e/0x2e0
  __dev_queue_xmit+0xbee/0x14e0
  packet_sendmsg+0x116f/0x1930
  __sys_sendto+0x1f5/0x200
  __x64_sys_sendto+0x24/0x30
  do_syscall_64+0x12f/0x1590
  entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x76/0x7e

Fix this by adding an early check on route_shortcircuit() when protocol
is ETH_P_IPV6. Note that ipv6_mod_enabled() cannot be used here because
VXLAN can be built-in even when IPv6 is built as a module.