CVE-2026-46118
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: pseries/papr-hvpipe: Fix null ptr deref in papr_hvpipe_dev_create_handle() commit 6d3789d347a7 ("papr-hvpipe: convert papr_hvpipe_dev_create_handle() to FD_PREPARE()"), changed the create handle to FD_PREPARE(), but it caused kernel null-ptr-deref because after call to retain_and_null_ptr(src_info), src_info is re-used for adding it to the global list. Getting the following kernel panic in papr_hvpipe_dev_create_handle() when trying to add src_info to the list. Kernel attempted to write user page (0) - exploit attempt? (uid: 0) BUG: Kernel NULL pointer dereference on write at 0x00000000 Faulting instruction address: 0xc0000000001b44a0 Oops: Kernel access of bad area, sig: 11 [#1] ... Call Trace: papr_hvpipe_dev_ioctl+0x1f4/0x48c (unreliable) sys_ioctl+0x528/0x1064 system_call_exception+0x128/0x360 system_call_vectored_common+0x15c/0x2ec Now, the error handling with FD_PREPARE's file cleanup and __free(kfree) auto cleanup is getting too convoluted. This is mainly because we need to ensure only 1 user get the srcID handle. To simplify this, we allocate prepare the src_info in the beginning and add it to the global list under a spinlock after checking that no duplicates exist. This simplify the error handling where if the FD_ADD fails, we can simply remove the src_info from the list and consume any pending msg in hvpipe to be cleared, after src_info became visible in the global list.
Affected versions
Linux kernel versions
6.18.32,
6.19
and later are affected. Fixed in
6.18.33,
7.0.7,
7.1-rc3
and their respective stable series.
References
The following references provide additional information about CVE-2026-46118 including vendor advisories, patch commits, exploit details, and third-party analysis. Links are sourced from the NIST NVD database.
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PatchKernel patch commithttps://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1b9f7aafa44f5ce852c00509104d10fd9eb0f402
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PatchKernel patch commithttps://git.kernel.org/stable/c/735439394dde8462f9b50566727fbe333beaadaf
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PatchKernel patch commithttps://git.kernel.org/stable/c/cf51bec1560f8bf115d1476f60335f9d90e110b0
Frequently asked questions
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What is CVE-2026-46118?
CVE-2026-46118 is a unscored severity Linux kernel vulnerability . It affects Linux kernel versions from 6.18.32 onward and has been patched in 6.18.33, 7.0.7 and 7.1-rc3. CVE-2026-46118 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
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Is there a patch available for CVE-2026-46118?
Yes — CVE-2026-46118 has been patched. Fixed versions include 6.18.33, 7.0.7 and 7.1-rc3. If you are running Linux kernel 6.18.32 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.
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Is CVE-2026-46118 actively exploited?
No — CVE-2026-46118 has not been confirmed as actively exploited. It is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.