CVE-2026-72013: riscv: Prevent NULL pointer dereference in machine_kexec_prepare()

Severity: unknown
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.2% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2026-08-15 · updated 2026-08-17

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: riscv: Prevent NULL pointer dereference in machine_kexec_prepare() A NULL pointer dereference issue is noticed in riscv's machine_kexec_prepare(), where image->segment[i].buf might be NULL and copied unchecked. The NULL buf comes from ima_add_kexec_buffer(), where kbuf is added by kexec_add_buffer(), but kbuf.buffer is NULL, then it is copied without a check in machine_kexec_prepare(): kexec_file_load -> kimage_file_alloc_init() -> kimage_file_prepare_segments() -> ima_add_kexec_buffer() -> kexec_add_buffer() -> machine_kexec_prepare() -> memcpy() Address this by adding a check before the data copy attempt.

Affected products

Linux kernel: from 5.15.47 before 5.15.212; from 5.17.15 before 5.18; from 5.18.4 before 5.19; 5.19 — fixed in 5.15.212, 5.18, 5.19, 7.2

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 5.15.212, 5.18, 5.19, 7.2. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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