NULL pointer dereference in Linux

CVE-2026-31422

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net/sched: cls_flow: fix NULL pointer dereference on shared blocks flow_change() calls tcf_block_q() and dereferences q->handle to derive a default baseclass. Shared blocks leave block->q NULL, causing a NULL deref when a flow filter without a fully qualified baseclass is created on a shared block. Check tcf_block_shared() before accessing block->q and return -EINVAL for shared blocks. This avoids the null-deref shown below: ======================================================================= KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000038-0x000000000000003f] RIP: 0010:flow_change (net/sched/cls_flow.c:508) Call Trace: tc_new_tfilter (net/sched/cls_api.c:2432) rtnetlink_rcv_msg (net/core/rtnetlink.c:6980) [...] =======================================================================

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: 0.002 (5.7th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 6th percentile — 5.7% 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-2026-31422: held from 0.001 to 0.002.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.001 · newest: 0.002 · change: +0.000

Affected products

  • Linux — versions 1abf272022cf1d18469405f47b4ec49c6a3125db, 4.15, 0
  • Linux Kernel — versions 7.0

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-31422?
CVE-2026-31422 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux, classified under NULL Pointer Dereference. CVSS score: 5.5/10. Published 2026-04-13.
How severe is CVE-2026-31422?
Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 5.5 out of 10.