Medium severity · published Jan 21, 2026
CVE-2026-22976
net/sched: sch_qfq: Fix NULL deref when deactivating inactive aggregate in qfq_reset
5.5
CVSS
0.2%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
net/sched: sch_qfq: Fix NULL deref when deactivating inactive aggregate in qfq_reset
`qfq_class->leaf_qdisc->q.qlen > 0` does not imply that the class
itself is active.
Two qfq_class objects may point to the same leaf_qdisc. This happens
when:
1. one QFQ qdisc is attached to the dev as the root qdisc, and
2. another QFQ qdisc is temporarily referenced (e.g., via qdisc_get()
/ qdisc_put()) and is pending to be destroyed, as in function
tc_new_tfilter.
When packets are enqueued through the root QFQ qdisc, the shared
leaf_qdisc->q.qlen increases. At the same time, the second QFQ
qdisc triggers qdisc_put and qdisc_destroy: the qdisc enters
qfq_reset() with its own q->q.qlen == 0, but its class's leaf
qdisc->q.qlen > 0. Therefore, the qfq_reset would wrongly deactivate
an inactive aggregate and trigger a null-deref in qfq_deactivate_agg:
[ 0.903172] BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000000
[ 0.903571] #PF: supervisor write access in kernel mode
[ 0.903860] #PF: error_code(0x0002) - not-present page
[ 0.904177] PGD 10299b067 P4D 10299b067 PUD 10299c067 PMD 0
[ 0.904502] Oops: Oops: 0002 [#1] SMP NOPTI
[ 0.904737] CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 135 Comm: exploit Not tainted 6.19.0-rc3+ #2 NONE
[ 0.905157] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS rel-1.17.0-0-gb52ca86e094d-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014
[ 0.905754] RIP: 0010:qfq_deactivate_agg (include/linux/list.h:992 (discriminator 2) include/linux/list.h:1006 (discriminator 2) net/sched/sch_qfq.c:1367 (discriminator 2) net/sched/sch_qfq.c:1393 (discriminator 2))
[ 0.906046] Code: 0f 84 4d 01 00 00 48 89 70 18 8b 4b 10 48 c7 c2 ff ff ff ff 48 8b 78 08 48 d3 e2 48 21 f2 48 2b 13 48 8b 30 48 d3 ea 8b 4b 18 0
Code starting with the faulting instruction
===========================================
0: 0f 84 4d 01 00 00 je 0x153
6: 48 89 70 18 mov %rsi,0x18(%rax)
a: 8b 4b 10 mov 0x10(%rbx),%ecx
d: 48 c7 c2 ff ff ff ff mov $0xffffffffffffffff,%rdx
14: 48 8b 78 08 mov 0x8(%rax),%rdi
18: 48 d3 e2 shl %cl,%rdx
1b: 48 21 f2 and %rsi,%rdx
1e: 48 2b 13 sub (%rbx),%rdx
21: 48 8b 30 mov (%rax),%rsi
24: 48 d3 ea shr %cl,%rdx
27: 8b 4b 18 mov 0x18(%rbx),%ecx
...
[ 0.907095] RSP: 0018:ffffc900004a39a0 EFLAGS: 00010246
[ 0.907368] RAX: ffff8881043a0880 RBX: ffff888102953340 RCX: 0000000000000000
[ 0.907723] RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 0000000000000000 RDI: 0000000000000000
[ 0.908100] RBP: ffff888102952180 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 0000000000000000
[ 0.908451] R10: ffff8881043a0000 R11: 0000000000000000 R12: ffff888102952000
[ 0.908804] R13: ffff888102952180 R14: ffff8881043a0ad8 R15: ffff8881043a0880
[ 0.909179] FS: 000000002a1a0380(0000) GS:ffff888196d8d000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
[ 0.909572] CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
[ 0.909857] CR2: 0000000000000000 CR3: 0000000102993002 CR4: 0000000000772ef0
[ 0.910247] PKRU: 55555554
[ 0.910391] Call Trace:
[ 0.910527] <TASK>
[ 0.910638] qfq_reset_qdisc (net/sched/sch_qfq.c:357 net/sched/sch_qfq.c:1485)
[ 0.910826] qdisc_reset (include/linux/skbuff.h:2195 include/linux/skbuff.h:2501 include/linux/skbuff.h:3424 include/linux/skbuff.h:3430 net/sched/sch_generic.c:1036)
[ 0.911040] __qdisc_destroy (net/sched/sch_generic.c:1076)
[ 0.911236] tc_new_tfilter (net/sched/cls_api.c:2447)
[ 0.911447] rtnetlink_rcv_msg (net/core/rtnetlink.c:6958)
[ 0.911663] ? __pfx_rtnetlink_rcv_msg (net/core/rtnetlink.c:6861)
[ 0.911894] netlink_rcv_skb (net/netlink/af_netlink.c:2550)
[ 0.912100] netlink_unicast (net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1319 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1344)
[ 0.912296] ? __alloc_skb (net/core/skbuff.c:706)
[ 0.912484] netlink_sendmsg (net/netlink/af
---truncated---
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High
Scope
Unchanged
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)0.2% · higher than 8% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
KE
Kernel · Linux
3.0 before 5.10.248; 5.11 before 5.15.198; 5.16 before 6.1.161; 6.2 before 6.6.121; 6.7 before 6.12.66; 6.13 before 6.18.6; +4 more · source: NVD
LI
Linux · Linux
0545a3037773512d3448557ba048cebb73b3e4af before 6116a83ec167d3ab1390cded854d237481f41b63; 0545a3037773512d3448557ba048cebb73b3e4af before 0809c4bc06c9c961222df29f2eccfd449304056f; 0545a3037773512d3448557ba048cebb73b3e4af before cdb24200b043438a144df501f1ebbd926bb1a2c7; 0545a3037773512d3448557ba048cebb73b3e4af before 11bf9134613f6c71fc0ff36c5d8d33856f6ae3bb; 0545a3037773512d3448557ba048cebb73b3e4af before 43497313d0da3e12b5cfcd97aa17bf48ee663f95; 0545a3037773512d3448557ba048cebb73b3e4af before 51ffd447bc37bf1a5776b85523f51d2bc69977f6; +2 more · source: vendor
RR
RUGGEDCOM RST2428P · Siemens
before V4.0 · source: CISA
References
NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-22976
CVE.org
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-22976
Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0809c4bc06c9c961222df29f2eccfd449304056f
Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/11bf9134613f6c71fc0ff36c5d8d33856f6ae3bb
Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/43497313d0da3e12b5cfcd97aa17bf48ee663f95
Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/51ffd447bc37bf1a5776b85523f51d2bc69977f6
Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6116a83ec167d3ab1390cded854d237481f41b63
Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c1d73b1480235731e35c81df70b08f4714a7d095
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