NULL pointer dereference in Linux

CVE-2026-43099

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ipv4: icmp: fix null-ptr-deref in icmp_build_probe() ipv6_stub->ipv6_dev_find() may return ERR_PTR(-EAFNOSUPPORT) when the IPv6 stack is not active (CONFIG_IPV6=m and not loaded), and passing this error pointer to dev_hold() will cause a kernel crash with null-ptr-deref. Instead, silently discard the request. RFC 8335 does not appear to define a specific response for the case where an IPv6 interface identifier is syntactically valid but the implementation cannot perform the lookup at runtime, and silently dropping the request may safer than misreporting "No Such Interface".

Published · last modified .

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 7.5 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.007 (51.3th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 51st percentile — 51.3% 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-2026-43099: held from 0.005 to 0.007.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.005 · newest: 0.007 · change: +0.002

Affected products

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-43099?
CVE-2026-43099 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux, classified under NULL Pointer Dereference. CVSS score: 7.5/10. Published 2026-05-06.
How severe is CVE-2026-43099?
High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.5 out of 10.