NULL pointer dereference in Linux

CVE-2026-23117

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ice: add missing ice_deinit_hw() in devlink reinit path devlink-reload results in ice_init_hw failed error, and then removing the ice driver causes a NULL pointer dereference. [ +0.102213] ice 0000:ca:00.0: ice_init_hw failed: -16 ... [ +0.000001] Call Trace: [ +0.000003] <TASK> [ +0.000006] ice_unload+0x8f/0x100 [ice] [ +0.000081] ice_remove+0xba/0x300 [ice] Commit 1390b8b3d2be ("ice: remove duplicate call to ice_deinit_hw() on error paths") removed ice_deinit_hw() from ice_deinit_dev(). As a result ice_devlink_reinit_down() no longer calls ice_deinit_hw(), but ice_devlink_reinit_up() still calls ice_init_hw(). Since the control queues are not uninitialized, ice_init_hw() fails with -EBUSY. Add ice_deinit_hw() to ice_devlink_reinit_down() to correspond with ice_init_hw() in ice_devlink_reinit_up().

Published · last modified .

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.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.001 (0.9th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 1st percentile — 0.9% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS trend (30 days)EPSS over the last 30 days for CVE-2026-23117: held from 0.001 to 0.001.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.001 · newest: 0.001 · change: +0.000

Affected products

  • Linux — versions c91eee346089e4d287d5a111719e57cac605275e, 1390b8b3d2bef9bfbb852fc735430798bfca36e7, 6.18.2
  • Linux Kernel — versions 6.19

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-23117?
CVE-2026-23117 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux, classified under NULL Pointer Dereference. CVSS score: 5.5/10. Published 2026-02-14.
How severe is CVE-2026-23117?
Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 5.5 out of 10.