CVE-2026-46079 — rbd: fix null-ptr-deref when device_add_disk() fails
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: rbd: fix null-ptr-deref when device_add_disk() fails do_rbd_add() publishes the device with device_add() before calling device_add_disk(). If device_add_disk() fails after device_add() succeeds, the error path calls rbd_free_disk() directly and then later falls through to rbd_dev_device_release(), which calls rbd_free_disk() again. This double teardown can leave blk-mq cleanup operating on invalid state and trigger a null-ptr-deref in __blk_mq_free_map_and_rqs(), reached from blk_mq_free_tag_set(). Fix this by following the normal remove ordering: call device_del() before rbd_dev_device_release() when device_add_disk() fails after device_add(). That keeps the teardown sequence consistent and avoids re-entering disk cleanup through the wrong path. The bug was first flagged by an experimental analysis tool we are developing for kernel memory-management bugs while analyzing v6.13-rc1. The tool is still under development and is not yet publicly available. We reproduced the bug on v7.0 with a real Ceph backend and a QEMU x86_64 guest booted with KASAN and CONFIG_FAILSLAB enabled. The reproducer confines failslab injections to the __add_disk() range and injects fail-nth while mapping an RBD image through /sys/bus/rbd/add_single_major. On the unpatched kernel, fail-nth=4 reliably triggered the fault: Oops: general protection fault, probably for non-canonical address 0xdffffc0000000000: 0000 [#1] SMP KASAN NOPTI KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000000-0x0000000000000007] CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 273 Comm: bash Not tainted 7.0.0-01247-gd60bc1401583 #6 PREEMPT(lazy) Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS 1.15.0-1 04/01/2014 RIP: 0010:__blk_mq_free_map_and_rqs+0x8c/0x240 Code: 00 00 48 8b 6b 60 41 89 f4 49 c1 e4 03 4c 01 e5 45 85 ed 0f 85 0a 01 00 00 48 b8 00 00 00 00 00 fc ff df 48 89 e9 48 c1 e9 03 <80> 3c 01 00 0f 85 31 01 00 00 4c 8b 6d 00 4d 85 ed 0f 84 e2 00 00 RSP: 0018:ff1100000ab0fac8 EFLAGS: 00000246 RAX: dffffc0000000000 RBX: ff1100000c4806a0 RCX: 0000000000000000 RDX: 0000000000000002 RSI: 0000000000000000 RDI: ff1100000c4806f4 RBP: 0000000000000000 R08: 0000000000000001 R09: ffe21c000189001b R10: ff1100000c4800df R11: ff1100006cf37be0 R12: 0000000000000000 R13: 0000000000000000 R14: ff1100000c480700 R15: ff1100000c480004 FS: 00007f0fbe8fe740(0000) GS:ff110000e5851000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 00007fe53473b2e0 CR3: 0000000012eef000 CR4: 00000000007516f0 PKRU: 55555554 Call Trace: <TASK> blk_mq_free_tag_set+0x77/0x460 do_rbd_add+0x1446/0x2b80 ? __pfx_do_rbd_add+0x10/0x10 ? lock_acquire+0x18c/0x300 ? find_held_lock+0x2b/0x80 ? sysfs_file_kobj+0xb6/0x1b0 ? __pfx_sysfs_kf_write+0x10/0x10 kernfs_fop_write_iter+0x2f4/0x4a0 vfs_write+0x98e/0x1000 ? expand_files+0x51f/0x850 ? __pfx_vfs_write+0x10/0x10 ksys_write+0xf2/0x1d0 ? __pfx_ksys_write+0x10/0x10 do_syscall_64+0x115/0x690 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f RIP: 0033:0x7f0fbea15907 Code: 10 00 f7 d8 64 89 02 48 c7 c0 ff ff ff ff eb b7 0f 1f 00 f3 0f 1e fa 64 8b 04 25 18 00 00 00 85 c0 75 10 b8 01 00 00 00 0f 05 <48> 3d 00 f0 ff ff 77 51 c3 48 83 ec 28 48 89 54 24 18 48 89 74 24 RSP: 002b:00007ffe22346ea8 EFLAGS: 00000246 ORIG_RAX: 0000000000000001 RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 0000000000000058 RCX: 00007f0fbea15907 RDX: 0000000000000058 RSI: 0000563ace6c0ef0 RDI: 0000000000000001 RBP: 0000563ace6c0ef0 R08: 0000563ace6c0ef0 R09: 6b6435726d694141 R10: 5250337279762f78 R11: 0000000000000246 R12: 0000000000000058 R13: 00007f0fbeb1c780 R14: ff1100000c480700 R15: ff1100000c480004 </TASK> With this fix applied, rerunning the reproducer over fail-nth=1..256 yields no KASAN reports. [ idryomov: rename err_out_device_del -> err_out_device ]
Who exploits it and how urgent it is
A 0–100 score combining confirmed exploitation, ransomware and APT use, public exploits, EPSS and severity.
How the score was calculated
- EPSS 0.2% (30-day exploitation probability)+1
- Technical severity (medium)+3
The score orders the patch queue; it does not replace your asset context (internet exposure, criticality, compensating controls).
Triage
Is it exploited, how likely is exploitation, what does it touch, and how severe do the sources call it.
Remediation
Fixes and mitigations documented by the sources — linked to the original advisory.
- Documented patch — git.kernel.org (NIST National Vulnerability Database)
- Documented patch — git.kernel.org (NIST National Vulnerability Database)
- Documented patch — git.kernel.org (NIST National Vulnerability Database)
- Documented patch — git.kernel.org (NIST National Vulnerability Database)
- Documented patch — git.kernel.org (NIST National Vulnerability Database)
- Documented patch — git.kernel.org (NIST National Vulnerability Database)
First 24 hours
Ordered from the record’s own fields — exposure first, because you cannot patch what you have not found. A rule-generated starting point.
- Identify exposed assets running the affected vendor/product/version combinations (Linux Linux, Linux Linux Kernel).
- Apply the fixed version or the patch documented under Remediation.
- Search available logs for exploit probes matching the vulnerability class (memory corruption), errors and authentication anomalies.
Affected scope
Vendor, product and versions as the sources word them.
| Vendor | Product | Versions | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Linux | Linux | ≥ 27c97abc30e2b9ad2288977c0ecbef4d50553f57 and < 78bd0c143dea4b7a4c23c13356987ca0eafb442e≥ 27c97abc30e2b9ad2288977c0ecbef4d50553f57 and < 2f4809a879f0750c7790bbeeae86c9505797a06f≥ 27c97abc30e2b9ad2288977c0ecbef4d50553f57 and < 564cd8f4aeb9a938e470c5c91922fd02e4d41acc≥ 27c97abc30e2b9ad2288977c0ecbef4d50553f57 and < ad0126ffcba8777109852979eaaa6dca6703abdb≥ 27c97abc30e2b9ad2288977c0ecbef4d50553f57 and < 059fb7656723c1b77c2fc0e64b7aa99d6bb65e8e≥ 27c97abc30e2b9ad2288977c0ecbef4d50553f57 and < d1fef92e414433ca7b89abf85cb0df42b8d475ebversion 5.16 | Vulnerable | CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP |
| Linux | Linux Kernel | ≥ 5.16 and < 6.1.175≥ 6.2 and < 6.6.140≥ 6.7 and < 6.12.86≥ 6.13 and < 6.18.27≥ 6.19 and < 7.0.4 | Vulnerable | NIST National Vulnerability Database |
Attack characteristics
The CVSS vector, decoded. It describes the attack, not your exposure to it.
Every base score collected
Sources score independently and may disagree; each row says who scored it and under which version.
| Score | Version | Severity | Expl. | Impact | Scored by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5.5 | CVSS 3.1 | Medium | 1.8 | 3.6 | nvd@nist.gov via NIST National Vulnerability Database |
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H (score shown at the top: nvd@nist.gov) Weakness MITRE
Weakness class according to MITRE’s CWE catalog.
EPSS over time FIRST
Oct 13, 2026 → Oct 14, 2026 · 2 reading(s) · max 0.18%
Detection
Read off the CVSS vector and the weakness class. Starting points, not tested rules.
- Local/physical vector: focus on endpoint telemetry (EDR) from affected hosts.
- Correlate service crashes/restarts with inbound traffic; repeated crashes may indicate attempts.
Timeline
What happened to this CVE, newest first.
- 2026
- Affected products added · linux/linux
- Record published
- Fix documented
- CVSS changed · 5.5
- Source status changed · → Undergoing Analysis
- Record created in this database
- CVE published
Source activity
Repeated readings are counted rather than listed.
- 1× Official description updated · Oct 13, 2026 – Oct 13, 2026
References
6 on the record
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/78bd0c143dea4b7a4c23c13356987ca0eafb442e
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/2f4809a879f0750c7790bbeeae86c9505797a06f
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/564cd8f4aeb9a938e470c5c91922fd02e4d41acc
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/ad0126ffcba8777109852979eaaa6dca6703abdb
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/d1fef92e414433ca7b89abf85cb0df42b8d475eb
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/059fb7656723c1b77c2fc0e64b7aa99d6bb65e8e
Elsewhere on this site
Related CVEs (same products)
- Critical CVE-2026-99999 ipv4: validate checksum_start before completing checksum 6h
- Unknown CVE-2026-98432 ipv4: free inet_opt and ireq_opt after an RCU grace period 6h
- Unknown CVE-2026-98424 wifi: cfg80211: undo netns switch if renaming the wiphy fails 1d
- Unknown CVE-2026-98425 wifi: mac80211: don't warn when an IBSS has no channel to scan 1d
- Unknown CVE-2026-98426 wifi: mwifiex: fix IRQ leak using wrong index in MSI-X error path 1d
- Unknown CVE-2026-98427 net/sched: codel: bound the dropping loop per dequeue call 1d
Not in any source we poll
Listed rather than left blank: an empty field and an unmeasured one look identical on screen, and only one is a reason to look elsewhere.
- No CISA SSVC assessment.
- No confirmed IOCs, IP addresses, domains, file hashes, or malware artifacts supplied.
- No organization-specific asset inventory, compensating-control status, or patch deployment evidence supplied.
- No exploit packet captures, log samples, or incident case IDs supplied.
Answered from this record
Text assembled only from the fields above — no additional claims.
What should defenders know first?
CVE-2026-46079 is "rbd: fix null-ptr-deref when device_add_disk() fails", rated Medium. It affects Linux (Linux); versions are in the scope table. It is not in CISA KEV, which does not rule out exploitation. CVSS 5.5 describes technical severity. EPSS 0.18% estimates the probability of exploitation in 30 days; neither replaces your asset context. First verify whether exposed or business-critical assets run the affected versions, apply vendor fixes or mitigations, and preserve logs for review.
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