Local service crash via PN533 receive-buffer NULL dereference
Published Apr 24, 2026 · Updated Apr 24, 2026
NULL-pointer dereference in the Linux Kernel PN533 UART driver allows local users to crash the system through NFC serial input. In pn532_receive_buf(), a completed frame can clear recv_skb before alloc_skb() fails; the callback then reports zero consumed bytes, and the next byte reaches skb_put_u8() with a NULL buffer. Reachability requires the PN533 UART receive path and an allocation failure after a complete frame; the bounded consequence is an availability-only kernel crash.
Summary
What happened
NULL-pointer dereference in the Linux Kernel PN533 UART driver allows local users to crash the system through NFC serial input. In pn532_receive_buf(), a completed frame can clear recv_skb before alloc_skb() fails; the callback then reports zero consumed bytes, and the next byte reaches skb_put_u8() with a NULL buffer. Reachability requires the PN533 UART receive path and an allocation failure after a complete frame; the bounded consequence is an availability-only kernel crash.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-31660
- Published
- Apr 24, 2026
- Updated
- Apr 24, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux Kernel
- Classifications
- T1499.004
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Apr 24, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Apr 24, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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- Affected versionversion=5.5
- Affected versionversion=c656aa4c27b17a8c70da223ed5ab42145800d6b5 <07cb6c72e66ba548679f22ac29ad588da8999279
- Affected versionversion=c656aa4c27b17a8c70da223ed5ab42145800d6b5 <16649adc2e19509104245ea1f349b629d858f11f
- Affected versionversion=c656aa4c27b17a8c70da223ed5ab42145800d6b5 <21ae2cda66a55c759607bbf1d23cbaa42019d2de
- Affected versionversion=c656aa4c27b17a8c70da223ed5ab42145800d6b5 <2ca64fb7e2d2ae14619dd204d4f2f0a601f421fb
- Affected versionversion=c656aa4c27b17a8c70da223ed5ab42145800d6b5 <7e37da42eda45d7859d9273fc7e225d8df458038
- Affected versionversion=c656aa4c27b17a8c70da223ed5ab42145800d6b5 <8b71299d587d9e4c830c18afb884c80ddb30ad28
- Affected versionversion=c656aa4c27b17a8c70da223ed5ab42145800d6b5 <a9495069b43b8634c1ae0042e888766c34f66637
- Affected versionversion=c656aa4c27b17a8c70da223ed5ab42145800d6b5 <c71ba669b570c7b3f86ec875be222ea11dacb352
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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Attacks
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