CVE-2026-31421: net/sched: cls_fw: fix NULL pointer dereference on shared blocks

Severity: medium (CVSS 5.5 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.1% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2026-04-13 · updated 2026-10-15
Weakness: CWE-476

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net/sched: cls_fw: fix NULL pointer dereference on shared blocks The old-method path in fw_classify() calls tcf_block_q() and dereferences q->handle. Shared blocks leave block->q NULL, causing a NULL deref when an empty cls_fw filter is attached to a shared block and a packet with a nonzero major skb mark is classified. Reject the configuration in fw_change() when the old method (no TCA_OPTIONS) is used on a shared block, since fw_classify()'s old-method path needs block->q which is NULL for shared blocks. The fixed null-ptr-deref calling stack: KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000038-0x000000000000003f] RIP: 0010:fw_classify (net/sched/cls_fw.c:81) Call Trace: tcf_classify (./include/net/tc_wrapper.h:197 net/sched/cls_api.c:1764 net/sched/cls_api.c:1860) tc_run (net/core/dev.c:4401) __dev_queue_xmit (net/core/dev.c:4535 net/core/dev.c:4790)

Affected products

Linux kernel: from 4.15 before 5.10.253; from 5.11 before 5.15.203; from 5.16 before 6.1.168; from 6.2 before 6.6.134; from 6.7 before 6.12.81; from 6.13 before 6.18.22 — fixed in 5.10.253, 5.15.203, 6.1.168, 6.12.81, 6.18.22, 6.19.12

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 5.10.253, 5.15.203, 6.1.168, 6.12.81. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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