NULL pointer dereference in Linux

CVE-2026-31736

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: ethernet: mtk_ppe: avoid NULL deref when gmac0 is disabled If the gmac0 is disabled, the precheck for a valid ingress device will cause a NULL pointer deref and crash the system. This happens because eth->netdev[0] will be NULL but the code will directly try to access netdev_ops. Instead of just checking for the first net_device, it must be checked if any of the mtk_eth net_devices is matching the netdev_ops of the ingress device.

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-2026-31736: 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 73cfd947dbdb25ef9863ac49c4596a7d53ad4025, 6.11, 0
  • Linux Kernel — versions 7.0

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-31736?
CVE-2026-31736 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux, classified under NULL Pointer Dereference. CVSS score: 5.5/10. Published 2026-05-01.
How severe is CVE-2026-31736?
Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 5.5 out of 10.