Bug 2541289 (CVE-2026-97974)

Summary:	CVE-2026-97974 kernel: ipv6: null-check fib6_node before accessing in __ip6_del_rt_siblings()
Product:	[Other] Security Response	Reporter:	OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component:	vulnerability	Assignee:	Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
Status:	NEW ---	QA Contact:
Severity:	medium	Docs Contact:
Priority:	medium
Version:	unspecified	CC:	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
Whiteboard:
Fixed In Version:		Doc Type:	---
Doc Text:	A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's IPv6 networking subsystem. This flaw allows a local user to cause a Denial of Service (DoS) by triggering a system crash. The vulnerability is caused by a race condition during concurrent network route modifications and deletions, leading to a null pointer dereference when accessing routing table entries.	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 2026-09-25 11:15:08 UTC

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

ipv6: null-check fib6_node before accessing in __ip6_del_rt_siblings()

syzbot reported a null-ptr-deref in __ip6_del_rt_siblings() [0].

The stack trace hinted towards a null dereference of rt->fib6_node when
fn->leaf is accessed in __ip6_del_rt_siblings(). With
RTNL_FLAG_DOIT_UNLOCKED set, inet6_rtm_delroute() operations run
concurrently without acquiring the RTNL lock. In ip6_route_del(), the
route lookup happens under rcu_read_lock() without acquiring
table->tb6_lock.

Between ip6_route_del() looking up the route and __ip6_del_rt_siblings()
acquiring table->tb6_lock, another thread can modify the routing table.
For example, when an ECMP route is replaced via RTM_NEWROUTE with
NLM_F_REPLACE, fib6_add_rt2node() unlinks all old siblings and sets
iter->fib6_node = NULL. A reproducer was found that triggers this [1].

Add a check to ensure rt->fib6_node is non-null before accessing it.

[0]
KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000020-0x0000000000000027]
RIP: 0010:__ip6_del_rt_siblings+0x31e/0x7c0 net/ipv6/route.c:4056
Call Trace:
 <TASK>
 ip6_route_del+0x1054/0x1110 net/ipv6/route.c:4232
 inet6_rtm_delroute+0x5d7/0x6d0 net/ipv6/route.c:5669
 rtnetlink_rcv_msg+0x802/0xc00 net/core/rtnetlink.c:7132
 netlink_rcv_skb+0x226/0x4a0 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:2556
 netlink_unicast_kernel net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1319 [inline]
 netlink_unicast+0x7f5/0x990 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1345
 netlink_sendmsg+0x813/0xb40 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1900
 sock_sendmsg_nosec+0x13a/0x180 net/socket.c:800
 __sock_sendmsg net/socket.c:815 [inline]
 ____sys_sendmsg+0x565/0x870 net/socket.c:2713
 ___sys_sendmsg+0x2a5/0x360 net/socket.c:2767
 __sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2799 [inline]
 __do_sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2804 [inline]
 __se_sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2802 [inline]
 __x64_sys_sendmsg+0x1b7/0x290 net/socket.c:2802
 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:61 [inline]
 do_syscall_64+0x166/0x520 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:84
 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f
 </TASK>

[1] https://gist.github.com/NamanGulati/0766a1159b6ca61928faaf87425ff899

Comment 1 gkamathe 2026-09-30 05:32:29 UTC

Upstream advisory:
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/security/vulns.git/plain/cve/published/2026/CVE-2026-97974.mbox