NULL pointer dereference in Linux

CVE-2026-31577

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: nilfs2: fix NULL i_assoc_inode dereference in nilfs_mdt_save_to_shadow_map The DAT inode's btree node cache (i_assoc_inode) is initialized lazily during btree operations. However, nilfs_mdt_save_to_shadow_map() assumes i_assoc_inode is already initialized when copying dirty pages to the shadow map during GC. If NILFS_IOCTL_CLEAN_SEGMENTS is called immediately after mount before any btree operation has occurred on the DAT inode, i_assoc_inode is NULL leading to a general protection fault. Fix this by calling nilfs_attach_btree_node_cache() on the DAT inode in nilfs_dat_read() at mount time, ensuring i_assoc_inode is always initialized before any GC operation can use it.

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 (5.2th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 5th percentile — 5.2% 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-2026-31577: 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 d05cc5395e36711edad8bdef6945f138d8a7097b, e897be17a441fa637cd166fc3de1445131e57692, 7.1-rc1
  • Linux Kernel

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-31577?
CVE-2026-31577 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux, classified under NULL Pointer Dereference. CVSS score: 5.5/10. Published 2026-04-24.
How severe is CVE-2026-31577?
Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 5.5 out of 10.