CVE-2026-23439 PUBLISHED

udp_tunnel: fix NULL deref caused by udp_sock_create6 when CONFIG_IPV6=n

Assigner: Linux
Reserved: 13.01.2026 Published: 03.04.2026 Updated: 03.04.2026

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

udp_tunnel: fix NULL deref caused by udp_sock_create6 when CONFIG_IPV6=n

When CONFIG_IPV6 is disabled, the udp_sock_create6() function returns 0 (success) without actually creating a socket. Callers such as fou_create() then proceed to dereference the uninitialized socket pointer, resulting in a NULL pointer dereference.

The captured NULL deref crash: BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000018 RIP: 0010:fou_nl_add_doit (net/ipv4/fou_core.c:590 net/ipv4/fou_core.c:764) [...] Call Trace: <TASK> genl_family_rcv_msg_doit.constprop.0 (net/netlink/genetlink.c:1114) genl_rcv_msg (net/netlink/genetlink.c:1194 net/netlink/genetlink.c:1209) [...] netlink_rcv_skb (net/netlink/af_netlink.c:2550) genl_rcv (net/netlink/genetlink.c:1219) netlink_unicast (net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1319 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1344) netlink_sendmsg (net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1894) __sock_sendmsg (net/socket.c:727 (discriminator 1) net/socket.c:742 (discriminator 1)) __sys_sendto (./include/linux/file.h:62 (discriminator 1) ./include/linux/file.h:83 (discriminator 1) net/socket.c:2183 (discriminator 1)) __x64_sys_sendto (net/socket.c:2213 (discriminator 1) net/socket.c:2209 (discriminator 1) net/socket.c:2209 (discriminator 1)) do_syscall_64 (arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:63 (discriminator 1) arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:94 (discriminator 1)) entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe (net/arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:130)

This patch makes udp_sock_create6 return -EPFNOSUPPORT instead, so callers correctly take their error paths. There is only one caller of the vulnerable function and only privileged users can trigger it.

Product Status

Vendor Linux
Product Linux
Versions Default: unaffected
  • affected from fd384412e199b62c3ddaabd18dce86d0e164c5b9 to ba7c9ddcdd077942b798979edb035207374d4096 (excl.)
  • affected from fd384412e199b62c3ddaabd18dce86d0e164c5b9 to a05a2149386f6dfb4245f522acdbef892acafc84 (excl.)
  • affected from fd384412e199b62c3ddaabd18dce86d0e164c5b9 to 9f036aa0fe46c19e938f03d10e02c23f4fffae5e (excl.)
  • affected from fd384412e199b62c3ddaabd18dce86d0e164c5b9 to 003343985f26dfefd0c94b1fe1316a2de74428b9 (excl.)
  • affected from fd384412e199b62c3ddaabd18dce86d0e164c5b9 to 12aa4b73a67d95bc739995a2d6943aec2f9785c9 (excl.)
  • affected from fd384412e199b62c3ddaabd18dce86d0e164c5b9 to b3a6df291fecf5f8a308953b65ca72b7fc9e015d (excl.)
Vendor Linux
Product Linux
Versions Default: affected
  • Version 3.18 is affected
  • unaffected from 0 to 3.18 (excl.)
  • unaffected from 6.1.167 to 6.1.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 6.6.130 to 6.6.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 6.12.78 to 6.12.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 6.18.20 to 6.18.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 6.19.10 to 6.19.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 7.0-rc5 to * (incl.)

References