Local service interruption via stale control queues
Published Feb 14, 2026 · Updated Feb 14, 2026
NULL pointer dereference in Linux Kernel 6.18.2 through 6.18.7 allows local users to interrupt service during ice driver removal. ice_devlink_reinit_down omits ice_deinit_hw, leaving control queues initialized so ice_devlink_reinit_up fails with EBUSY and ice_unload later dereferences a NULL pointer. Reachability requires a failed devlink reload followed by removal of the ice driver; the reported consequence is availability loss without data disclosure or modification.
Summary
What happened
NULL pointer dereference in Linux Kernel 6.18.2 through 6.18.7 allows local users to interrupt service during ice driver removal. ice_devlink_reinit_down omits ice_deinit_hw, leaving control queues initialized so ice_devlink_reinit_up fails with EBUSY and ice_unload later dereferences a NULL pointer. Reachability requires a failed devlink reload followed by removal of the ice driver; the reported consequence is availability loss without data disclosure or modification.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-23117
- Published
- Feb 14, 2026
- Updated
- Feb 14, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux Kernel
- Classifications
- CWE-476, T1499
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Feb 14, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Feb 14, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.
Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=1390b8b3d2bef9bfbb852fc735430798bfca36e7 <42fb5f3deb582cb96440e4683745017dbabb83d6
- Affected versionversion=6.18.2 <6.18.8
- Affected versionversion=c91eee346089e4d287d5a111719e57cac605275e <a3d99e2fbf01446d31a0d0dfc46444e915a1f6d4
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Public exploit references
No public exploit references are available in this record.
Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.
Technologies
Your stack
See the directory against your own environment.
Your stack
Check the software in your environment
Book a demo to see how Hinoki identifies affected software and validates exploitability in your environment.
Book a demo