NULL pointer dereference in Linux
CVE-2026-23002
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: lib/buildid: use __kernel_read() for sleepable context Prevent a "BUG: unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference in filemap_read_folio". For the sleepable context, convert freader to use __kernel_read() instead of direct page cache access via read_cache_folio(). This simplifies the faultable code path by using the standard kernel file reading interface which handles all the complexity of reading file data. At the moment we are not changing the code for non-sleepable context which uses filemap_get_folio() and only succeeds if the target folios are already in memory and up-to-date. The reason is to keep the patch simple and easier to backport to stable kernels. Syzbot repro does not crash the kernel anymore and the selftests run successfully. In the follow up we will make __kernel_read() with IOCB_NOWAIT work for non-sleepable contexts. In addition, I would like to replace the secretmem check with a more generic approach and will add fstest for the buildid code.
EPSS: 0.002 (4.7th percentile) — read the EPSS interpretation.
CVSS v3 metric
CVSS v3 base score 5.5 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.
Affected products
- Linux — versions ad41251c290dfe3c01472c94d2439a59de23fe97, 6.12, 0
- Linux Linux_kernel — versions 6.12, 6.19
Weakness classification (CWE)
Public proof-of-concept exploits
References
Frequently asked questions
- What is CVE-2026-23002?
- CVE-2026-23002 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux, classified under NULL Pointer Dereference. CVSS score: 5.5/10. Published 2026-01-25.
- How severe is CVE-2026-23002?
- Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 5.5 out of 10.
- Is CVE-2026-23002 known to be exploited?
- 1 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.