CVE-2026-64545: Canonical Ubuntu Linux: null pointer dereference

What to know

What it is: A Linux kernel vulnerability allows an attacker to remotely exploit a null pointer dereference in the xdp_master_redirect() function, potentially leading to a crash or privilege escalation.
Affected: {'product': 'Ubuntu Linux', 'vendor': 'Canonical', 'versions': 'unknown'}
Fix: Check the linked advisory for the fix
Exploitation: No known exploitation

Story map

Story map: the flaws, the fix, how it unfolded and what it connects to. Boxes link to the record or article.

At a glance

Canonical Ubuntu Linux: Red, act today. A vulnerability exists in NGINX Plus and NGINX Open Source when a map directive uses regex matching and the root directive or access log format references the map's regex capture variables before referencing the map output variable. An unauthenticated attacker can exploit this vulnerability by sending crafted HTTP requests, causing a heap buffer overflow in the NGINX worker process leading to a restart, or potential…

The flaws

CVE-2026-64545: Null pointer dereference (CVSS 7.5 · EPSS 1%)
CVE-2026-93479: Heap buffer overflow can lead to remote code execution (CVSS 8.1 · EPSS 1%)
CVE-2026-15176: Heap buffer overflow can lead to remote code execution (CVSS 8.1 · EPSS 1%)
CVE-2026-97205: NGINX Plus and NGINX Open Source have a vulnerability in the ngx_http_core_module module (CVSS 8.1 · EPSS 1%)

The fix

Fix: Check the linked advisory for the concrete fix.

Who is exposed: {'products': ['NGINX Plus', 'NGINX Open Source'], 'packages': [], 'versions': []}

Where it stands

No known exploitation

How it unfolded

26 Oct, Ubuntu security notices (official): USN-8955-1: nginx vulnerabilities
5 Nov, Ubuntu security notices (official): USN-8955-2: nginx vulnerabilities
6 Nov, Ubuntu security notices (official): USN-9003-1: Linux kernel (NVIDIA) vulnerabilities

Connects to

Same weakness: Null pointer dereference (CWE-476). 144 other warnings in 30 days
Same product: Earlier Canonical Ubuntu Linux warnings. 147 in the last 90 days

Why it is Amber

CVSS 7.5 high
Remotely exploitable without logging in
On your watchlist: linux kernel
Named in a government or vendor bulletin

Government and vendor bulletins

USN-9003-1: Linux kernel (NVIDIA) vulnerabilities

References

Original description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net, bpf: check master for NULL in xdp_master_redirect() xdp_master_redirect() dereferences the result of netdev_master_upper_dev_get_rcu() without a NULL check, but that helper returns NULL when the receiving device has no upper-master adjacency. The reach guard only checks netif_is_bond_slave(). On bond slave release bond_upper_dev_unlink() drops the upper-master adjacency before clearing IFF_SLAVE, so an XDP_TX reaching xdp_master_redirect() in that window still passes netif_is_bond_slave() while master is already NULL, and faults on master->flags at offset 0xb0: BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 00000000000000b0 RIP: 0010:xdp_master_redirect (net/core/filter.c:4432) Call Trace: xdp_master_redirect (net/core/filter.c:4432) bpf_prog_run_generic_xdp (include/net/xdp.h:700) do_xdp_generic (net/core/dev.c:5608) __netif_receive_skb_one_core (net/core/dev.c:6204) process_backlog (net/core/dev.c:6319) __napi_poll (net/core/dev.c:7729) net_rx_action (net/core/dev.c:7792) handle_softirqs (kernel/softirq.c:622) __dev_queue_xmit (include/linux/bottom_half.h:33) packet_sendmsg (net/packet/af_packet.c:3082) __sys_sendto (net/socket.c:2252) Kernel panic - not syncing: Fatal exception in interrupt The missing check dates back to the original code; commit 1921f91298d1 ("net, bpf: fix null-ptr-deref in xdp_master_redirect() for down master") later added the master->flags read where the fault now lands but kept the unconditional deref. Check master for NULL before use; a NULL master is treated the same as one that is not up.