CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2026-31546 — Linux Linux Kernel security vulnerability

Medium CVSS 5.5

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: bonding: fix NULL deref in bond_debug_rlb_hash_show rlb_clear_slave intentionally keeps RLB hash-table entries on the rx_hashtbl_used_head list with slave set to NULL when no replacement slave is available. However, bond_debug_rlb_hash_show visites client_info->slave without checking if it's NULL. Other used-list iterators in bond_alb.c already handle this NULL-slave state safely: - rlb_update_client returns early on !client_info->slave - rlb_req_update_slave_clients, rlb_clear_slave, and rlb_rebalance compare slave values before visiting - lb_req_update_subnet_clients continues if slave is NULL The following NULL deref crash can be trigger in bond_debug_rlb_hash_show: [ 1.289791] BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000000 [ 1.292058] RIP: 0010:bond_debug_rlb_hash_show (drivers/net/bonding/bond_debugfs.c:41) [ 1.293101] RSP: 0018:ffffc900004a7d00 EFLAGS: 00010286 [ 1.293333] RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: ffff888102b48200 RCX: ffff888102b48204 [ 1.293631] RDX: ffff888102b48200 RSI: ffffffff839daad5 RDI: ffff888102815078 [ 1.293924] RBP: ffff888102815078 R08: ffff888102b4820e R09: 000000000000…

Severity
Medium
CVSS
5.5 (3.1)
Published
2026-04-24
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
linux/kernel
Weaknesses
CWE-476

Affected products

  • linux / linux_kernel
  • linux / linux_kernel / 2.6.38
  • linux / linux_kernel / 7.0

Showing 3 representative product identities from 15 source matches. Confirm exact affected versions with the linked vendor and NVD evidence.

Matched remediation archetype

Buffer bounds, memory safety, and memory corruption

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Check exposure

  • Identify affected native-code versions, build flags, architectures, parsers, codecs, drivers, and input paths in all shipped artifacts.
  • Determine whether untrusted data reaches the affected routine and the process privilege, sandbox, and network exposure.
  • Confirm statically linked, vendored, firmware, and platform-provided copies, not only package-manager records.

Remediate safely

  • Apply the maintained upstream correction or replace the affected component, then rebuild every dependent artifact from clean inputs.
  • Adopt bounds-checked interfaces, validated sizes and integer conversions, clear ownership, and memory-safe components where practical.
  • Enable supported compiler and runtime hardening and add sanitized tests and fuzz regression seeds derived from non-weaponized fixtures.

Authoritative sources

Complete CVE record and remediation plan

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