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Vulnerability record · CVE-2026-53281 · published 26 June 2026

CVE-2026-53281: Linux kernel null pointer dereference vulnerability

Linux · Linux Kernel

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: iommu/vt-d: Avoid NULL pointer dereference or refcount corruption Commit 60f030f7418d ("iommu/vt-d: Avoid use of NULL after WARN_ON_ONCE") fixed a NULL pointer dereference in an unlikely situation partly. If dev_pasid is not found in the dev_pasids list, it remains NULL. However, the teardown operations are executed unconditionally, this lead to a NULL pointer dereference or refcount corruption. If the domain was never attached to this IOMMU, info will be NULL, which would cause an immediate dereference when checking --info->refcnt. Even if info is not NULL, decrementing the refcount without having removed a valid PASID might unbalance the count. This could lead to premature dropping of the refcount to 0, potentially causing a use-after-free for the remaining active devices sharing the domain. Fix it by returning early if dev_pasid is NULL, before executing the teardown operations. Issue found by AI review and suggested by Kevin Tian. https://sashiko.dev/#/patchset/20260421031347.1408890-1-zhenzhong.duan%40intel.com

8.8 CVSS 3.1 High EPSS 0.18% · top 93.4% CWE-476 · NULL pointer dereference
8.8CVSS 3.1 base score
0.18%EPSS exploitation probability, 30 days
NoNot in CISA KEV
1Affected product versions listed by NVD
8References
29 Jul 2026Last modified by NVD

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: iommu/vt-d: Avoid NULL pointer dereference or refcount corruption Commit 60f030f7418d ("iommu/vt-d: Avoid use of NULL after WARN_ON_ONCE") fixed a NULL pointer dereference in an unlikely situation partly. If dev_pasid is not found in the dev_pasids list, it remains NULL. However, the teardown operations are executed unconditionally, this lead to a NULL pointer dereference or refcount corruption. If the domain was never attached to this IOMMU, info will be NULL, which would cause an immediate dereference when checking --info->refcnt. Even if info is not NULL, decrementing the refcount without having removed a valid PASID might unbalance the count. This could lead to premature dropping of the refcount to 0, potentially causing a use-after-free for the remaining active devices sharing the domain. Fix it by returning early if dev_pasid is NULL, before executing the teardown operations. Issue found by AI review and suggested by Kevin Tian. https://sashiko.dev/#/patchset/20260421031347.1408890-1-zhenzhong.duan%40intel.com

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected products

1 vulnerable configurations from NVD's CPE data, grouped by vendor and product.

References

LinkTags
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/79ea2feb917b05366b49d85573c9c5331f043b2c Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9022cb9ac0c2a72a57fa8ebf92ac74f953ca0153 Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/cdfe3c9f2c9e28a8651ee463c88ad191ced2f840 Patch
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:47017
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:47040
https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-53281 Third Party Advisory
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2493728 Issue TrackingThird Party Advisory
https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-53281.json Third Party Advisory

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Source: NIST National Vulnerability Database (record CVE-2026-53281), CISA KEV, FIRST EPSS (scores of 2026-09-28). This page is refreshed as NVD updates the record.