Bug 2461531 (CVE-2026-31621)

Summary: CVE-2026-31621 kernel: bnge: return after auxiliary_device_uninit() in error path
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security <prodsec-ir-bot>
Status: NEW --- QA Contact:
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Version: unspecifiedCC: rhel-process-autobot, watson-tool-maintainers
Target Milestone: ---Keywords: Security
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Hardware: All   
OS: Linux   
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A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's bnge driver. When an error occurs during device initialization, the driver fails to return after deallocating a device, leading to a null pointer dereference. This can cause system instability or a crash, resulting in a Denial of Service (DoS) for affected systems.
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-04-24 15:06:55 UTC 
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

bnge: return after auxiliary_device_uninit() in error path

When auxiliary_device_add() fails, the error block calls
auxiliary_device_uninit() but does not return.  The uninit drops the
last reference and synchronously runs bnge_aux_dev_release(), which sets
bd->auxr_dev = NULL and frees the underlying object.  The subsequent
bd->auxr_dev->net = bd->netdev then dereferences NULL, which is not a
good thing to have happen when trying to clean up from an error.

Add the missing return, as the auxiliary bus documentation states is a
requirement (seems that LLM tools read documentation better than humans
do...)
Comment 1 Keith Grant 2026-04-24 20:18:10 UTC 
Upstream advisory:
https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/2026042425-CVE-2026-31621-0c38@gregkh/T