Bug 2540516 (CVE-2026-93286)

Summary: CVE-2026-93286 kernel: net: appletalk: fix NULL pointer dereference in aarp_send_ddp()
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
Status: NEW --- QA Contact:
Severity: low Docs Contact:
Priority: low    
Version: unspecifiedCC: akhatavk, aos-team-art-private, asdas, dpaolell, jdelft, jupierce, lgarciaa, mbiarnes, ppalepu, ppostler, prdhamdh, rhel-process-autobot, sghai, sidsharm, suppawar, vlaad, watson-tool-maintainers
Target Milestone: ---Keywords: Security
Target Release: ---   
Hardware: All   
OS: Linux   
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Fixed In Version: Doc Type: ---
Doc Text:
A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's AppleTalk subsystem. When transmitting network packets over a network device that lacks an AppleTalk interface configuration, the system fails to verify that interface data is initialized before accessing it. A local user can exploit this flaw by sending specific network traffic, triggering a kernel crash and resulting in a Denial of Service (DoS).
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oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team: --- Target Upstream Version:
Embargoed:

Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-09-24 17:05:13 UTC 
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

net: appletalk: fix NULL pointer dereference in aarp_send_ddp()

aarp_send_ddp() calls atalk_find_dev_addr(dev) in the LocalTalk fast
path without checking for NULL. When the device has no AppleTalk
interface configured (dev->atalk_ptr == NULL), this leads to a NULL
pointer dereference at the at->s_net access.

 KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000000-0x0000000000000007]
 RIP: 0010:aarp_send_ddp (net/appletalk/aarp.c:552 (discriminator 2))
 Call Trace:
  <TASK>
  atalk_sendmsg (net/appletalk/ddp.c:1715)
  __sys_sendto (net/socket.c:2265 (discriminator 1))
  __x64_sys_sendto (net/socket.c:2272)
  do_syscall_64 (arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:94)
  entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe (arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:121)

Add a NULL check consistent with the other callers of
atalk_find_dev_addr().
Comment 1 gkamathe 2026-09-28 14:34:20 UTC 
Upstream advisory:
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/security/vulns.git/plain/cve/published/2026/CVE-2026-93286.mbox