CVE-2026-31437 PUBLISHED

netfs: Fix NULL pointer dereference in netfs_unbuffered_write() on retry

Assigner: Linux
Reserved: 09.03.2026 Published: 22.04.2026 Updated: 22.04.2026

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

netfs: Fix NULL pointer dereference in netfs_unbuffered_write() on retry

When a write subrequest is marked NETFS_SREQ_NEED_RETRY, the retry path in netfs_unbuffered_write() unconditionally calls stream->prepare_write() without checking if it is NULL.

Filesystems such as 9P do not set the prepare_write operation, so stream->prepare_write remains NULL. When get_user_pages() fails with -EFAULT and the subrequest is flagged for retry, this results in a NULL pointer dereference at fs/netfs/direct_write.c:189.

Fix this by mirroring the pattern already used in write_retry.c: if stream->prepare_write is NULL, skip renegotiation and directly reissue the subrequest via netfs_reissue_write(), which handles iterator reset, IN_PROGRESS flag, stats update and reissue internally.

Product Status

Vendor Linux
Product Linux
Versions Default: unaffected
  • affected from 72d08d2839649d1c5efbe375751f4473fa4486af to a4d1b4ba9754bac3efebd06f583a44a7af52c0ab (excl.)
  • affected from 0c29f6d63122a0168d67cb8ecde5b4cf7fe4acb0 to 7a5482f5ce891decbf36f2e6fab1e9fc4a76a684 (excl.)
  • affected from a0b4c7a49137ed21279f354eb59f49ddae8dffc2 to e9075e420a1eb3b52c60f3b95893a55e77419ce8 (excl.)
Vendor Linux
Product Linux
Versions Default: unaffected
  • affected from 6.18.17 to 6.18.21 (excl.)
  • affected from 6.19.7 to 6.19.11 (excl.)

References