Unscored severity · published Oct 28, 2026
CVE-2026-99166
net: rds: fix uninitialized trans dereference in CM event handler
New
–
CVSS
–
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
net: rds: fix uninitialized trans dereference in CM event handler
rds_rdma_cm_event_handler_cmn() assigns trans only when the RDMA
device is an InfiniBand CA (RDMA_NODE_IB_CA). On any other device
type, e.g. an iWARP RNIC such as siw, trans stays uninitialized, but
the event switch dereferences it: unconditionally in the
RDMA_CM_EVENT_CONNECT_REQUEST case via trans->cm_handle_connect(),
and (with a connection context) in the ROUTE_RESOLVED and
ESTABLISHED cases.
An RDS listener on an iWARP device therefore crashes the kernel as
soon as a connect request arrives: with CONFIG_INIT_STACK_ALL_ZERO
the wild load becomes a NULL dereference at offset 0xa0
(&trans->cm_handle_connect) in the iw_cm_wq workqueue.
GCC masks the bug in default builds by folding the uninitialized
load into &rds_ib_transport; Clang-built kernels take the real
uninitialized path and oops.
The active side can land on a non-IB device too: the id that
rds_ib_conn_path_connect() creates is not restricted to a node type,
so rdma_resolve_addr() binds it to whichever device serves the local
address, and an iWARP RNIC on the same netdev qualifies. The crash
there is different: resolving a route on an iWARP id never fills in
cm_id->route.path_rec, and the ROUTE_RESOLVED case writes
path_rec[0].sl before it calls into the transport.
The iWARP transport was dropped long ago and IB is the only
transport left, so make that explicit: initialize trans to
&rds_ib_transport at declaration, drop the conditional assignment,
reject a connect request that arrives on a non-IB device, and drop a
connection whose address resolved to one instead of resolving a
route on it. The rejection is limited to RDMA_CM_EVENT_CONNECT_REQUEST
on purpose: a non-zero return from the handler makes rdma_cm destroy
the id the event was delivered on, which is right for the request's
freshly created id but would free a connection id that RDS still owns
for any other event. On the active side the id stays ic->i_cm_id and
the connection's shutdown destroys it, so that case returns 0.
[achender: reject only on RDMA_CM_EVENT_CONNECT_REQUEST instead of
bailing out for every event on a non-IB device, so that rdma_cm does
not destroy connection ids RDS still tracks; drop a connection whose
address resolved to a non-IB device before a route is resolved on it;
changelog adjusted]
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
LI
Linux · Linux
dcdede0406d30e14a6ed727dce69dfac0518371d before 5f23e4e3a31dacfd82a8f56be253adc0910ee84f; dcdede0406d30e14a6ed727dce69dfac0518371d before ca14c289ed9ffed6cc64290d039e923e5720a8bf; dcdede0406d30e14a6ed727dce69dfac0518371d before 492ba6ac1b1ffb8a06ff52db0825c1af2cdb28c8; 4.6 · source: vendor
References
NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-99166
CVE.org
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-99166
git.kernel.org
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5f23e4e3a31dacfd82a8f56be253adc0910ee84f
git.kernel.org
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ca14c289ed9ffed6cc64290d039e923e5720a8bf
git.kernel.org
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/492ba6ac1b1ffb8a06ff52db0825c1af2cdb28c8
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