Vulnerability in Kernel (CVE-2026-23041)

Summary

Vulnerability in Kernel (CVE-2026-23041). Risk of unauthorized operations or information disclosure. Mitigation: upgrade to 6.18.6 or later.

Original description

The description as published by the source.

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

bnxt_en: Fix NULL pointer crash in bnxt_ptp_enable during error cleanup

When bnxt_init_one() fails during initialization (e.g.,
bnxt_init_int_mode returns -ENODEV), the error path calls
bnxt_free_hwrm_resources() which destroys the DMA pool and sets
bp->hwrm_dma_pool to NULL. Subsequently, bnxt_ptp_clear() is called,
which invokes ptp_clock_unregister().

Since commit a60fc3294a37 ("ptp: rework ptp_clock_unregister() to
disable events"), ptp_clock_unregister() now calls
ptp_disable_all_events(), which in turn invokes the driver's .enable()
callback (bnxt_ptp_enable()) to disable PTP events before completing the
unregistration.

bnxt_ptp_enable() attempts to send HWRM commands via bnxt_ptp_cfg_pin()
and bnxt_ptp_cfg_event(), both of which call hwrm_req_init(). This
function tries to allocate from bp->hwrm_dma_pool, causing a NULL
pointer dereference:

bnxt_en 0000:01:00.0 (unnamed net_device) (uninitialized): bnxt_init_int_mode err: ffffffed
KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000028-0x000000000000002f]
Call Trace:
__hwrm_req_init (drivers/net/ethernet/broadcom/bnxt/bnxt_hwrm.c:72)
bnxt_ptp_enable (drivers/net/ethernet/broadcom/bnxt/bnxt_ptp.c:323 drivers/net/ethernet/broadcom/bnxt/bnxt_ptp.c:517)
ptp_disable_all_events (drivers/ptp/ptp_chardev.c:66)
ptp_clock_unregister (drivers/ptp/ptp_clock.c:518)
bnxt_ptp_clear (drivers/net/ethernet/broadcom/bnxt/bnxt_ptp.c:1134)
bnxt_init…

Source: OSV.dev (Open Source Vulnerabilities) NVD OSV

Auto-generated summary

Assembled by SecPulse from the source data (CVSS, CWE, affected versions) using templates — no AI involved. Check the original description and references below for exact details.

A vulnerability tracked as CVE-2026-23041 has been found in Kernel.
Risk of unauthorized operations or information disclosure.
What to do: upgrade Kernel to 6.18.6 or later.
If unsure, ask your IT team or search "Kernel CVE-2026-23041" on the vendor's site.

CVE-2026-23041 (Kernel)
Patched: 6.18.6 — apply immediately
Plan: 1) Audit SBOM/dependencies, 2) Stage→prod upgrade, 3) Add WAF/proxy monitoring on affected endpoints, 4) Hunt IOCs in logs.
Refs: see the GHSA / vendor advisory / patched release linked on this page.

❓ What is the problem

A vulnerability (unclassified) exists in Kernel.

📍 Affected scope

Check the vendor advisory for the affected versions of Kernel.

🔥 Severity

Severity: ?. Risk of unauthorized operations or information disclosure.

🔧 How to fix

Update to 6.18.6.

🛡️ Workaround

Until the patch is applied: disable the affected feature, apply WAF rules, or restrict access via network ACLs.

🔍 Detection

Search webserver/proxy logs for unusual request patterns matching this CVE's known IOCs. Run grep -r 'Kernel' . against your dependency files (package-lock.json, requirements.txt, go.sum) to find affected services.

Response actions

Concrete steps and command examples for SOC/SRE teams to execute in order

1
Identify exposure identify
```
grep -r 'Kernel' . | grep -v node_modules
```
リポジトリと本番環境の依存ファイル (package-lock.json / requirements.txt / go.sum / Gemfile.lock 等) で Kernel を grep し、稼働しているサービス・バージョンを把握する。
2
Apply patch patch
```
Upgrade Kernel to 6.18.6
```
ステージング環境で 6.18.6 に上げて回帰テスト → 本番反映。回帰テストはアプリの主要ハッピーパスを含めること。
3
Post-deployment verification verify
```
Confirm patched version is live in production
```
パッチ適用後、ステージングで PoC または同等の悪用パターンを再現して脆弱性が閉じたことを確認。本番ではアクセスログ・WAF でアラート再発が無いか継続監視。

Affected packages

Linux Kernel

[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"6.18.0"},{"fixed":"6.18.6"}]}]

Fix status by distribution

Fixed packages published by each distribution for this CVE

BellSoft Alpaquita BELL-CVE-2026-23041 linux-lts Fixed in: 6.18.35-r1
Debian DEBIAN-CVE-2026-23041 linux Fixed in: 6.18.8-1