NULL pointer dereference in Linux

CVE-2026-31646

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: lan966x: fix page_pool error handling in lan966x_fdma_rx_alloc_page_pool() page_pool_create() can return an ERR_PTR on failure. The return value is used unconditionally in the loop that follows, passing the error pointer through xdp_rxq_info_reg_mem_model() into page_pool_use_xdp_mem(), which dereferences it, causing a kernel oops. Add an IS_ERR check after page_pool_create() to return early on failure.

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 (4.7th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 5th percentile — 4.7% 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-2026-31646: 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 11871aba19748b3387e83a2db6360aa7119e9a1a, 6.2, 0
  • Linux Kernel — versions 6.2, 7.0

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-31646?
CVE-2026-31646 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-2026-31646?
Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 5.5 out of 10.