Bug 2461556 (CVE-2026-31546)

Summary: CVE-2026-31546 kernel: net: bonding: fix NULL deref in bond_debug_rlb_hash_show
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security <prodsec-ir-bot>
Status: NEW --- QA Contact:
Severity: medium Docs Contact:
Priority: medium    
Version: unspecifiedCC: rhel-process-autobot, watson-tool-maintainers
Target Milestone: ---Keywords: Security
Target Release: ---   
Hardware: All   
OS: Linux   
Whiteboard:
Fixed In Version: Doc Type: ---
Doc Text:
A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's networking bonding driver. This vulnerability occurs when the `bond_debug_rlb_hash_show` function attempts to access a network interface that has been unassigned, leading to a NULL pointer dereference. A local attacker with appropriate permissions could exploit this flaw to trigger a kernel crash, resulting in a Denial of Service (DoS) for the affected system.
 Story Points: ---
Clone Of: Environment:
Last Closed: Type: ---
Regression: --- Mount Type: ---
Documentation: --- CRM:
Verified Versions: Category: ---
oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team: --- Target Upstream Version:
Embargoed:

Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-04-24 15:08:18 UTC 
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

net: bonding: fix NULL deref in bond_debug_rlb_hash_show

rlb_clear_slave intentionally keeps RLB hash-table entries on
the rx_hashtbl_used_head list with slave set to NULL when no
replacement slave is available. However, bond_debug_rlb_hash_show
visites client_info->slave without checking if it's NULL.

Other used-list iterators in bond_alb.c already handle this NULL-slave
state safely:

- rlb_update_client returns early on !client_info->slave
- rlb_req_update_slave_clients, rlb_clear_slave, and rlb_rebalance
compare slave values before visiting
- lb_req_update_subnet_clients continues if slave is NULL

The following NULL deref crash can be trigger in
bond_debug_rlb_hash_show:

[    1.289791] BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000000
[    1.292058] RIP: 0010:bond_debug_rlb_hash_show (drivers/net/bonding/bond_debugfs.c:41)
[    1.293101] RSP: 0018:ffffc900004a7d00 EFLAGS: 00010286
[    1.293333] RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: ffff888102b48200 RCX: ffff888102b48204
[    1.293631] RDX: ffff888102b48200 RSI: ffffffff839daad5 RDI: ffff888102815078
[    1.293924] RBP: ffff888102815078 R08: ffff888102b4820e R09: 0000000000000000
[    1.294267] R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000000 R12: ffff888100f929c0
[    1.294564] R13: ffff888100f92a00 R14: 0000000000000001 R15: ffffc900004a7ed8
[    1.294864] FS:  0000000001395380(0000) GS:ffff888196e75000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
[    1.295239] CS:  0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
[    1.295480] CR2: 0000000000000000 CR3: 0000000102adc004 CR4: 0000000000772ef0
[    1.295897] Call Trace:
[    1.296134]  seq_read_iter (fs/seq_file.c:231)
[    1.296341]  seq_read (fs/seq_file.c:164)
[    1.296493]  full_proxy_read (fs/debugfs/file.c:378 (discriminator 1))
[    1.296658]  vfs_read (fs/read_write.c:572)
[    1.296981]  ksys_read (fs/read_write.c:717)
[    1.297132]  do_syscall_64 (arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:63 (discriminator 1) arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:94 (discriminator 1))
[    1.297325]  entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe (arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:130)

Add a NULL check and print "(none)" for entries with no assigned slave.
Comment 1 Keith Grant 2026-04-24 16:57:27 UTC 
Upstream advisory:
https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/2026042425-CVE-2026-31546-2ca3@gregkh/T