#VU124933 NULL pointer dereference in Linux kernel - CVE-2026-23435
Published: April 6, 2026
Vulnerability identifier: #VU124933
Vulnerability risk: Low
CVSSv4.0: CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U/U:Clear
CVE-ID: CVE-2026-23435
CWE-ID: CWE-476
Exploitation vector: Local access
Exploit availability:
No public exploit available
Vulnerable software:
Linux kernel
Linux kernel
Software vendor:
Linux Foundation
Linux Foundation
Description
The vulnerability allows a local user to cause a denial of service.
The vulnerability exists due to a null pointer dereference in the x86 PMU NMI handler and x86 perf event scheduling logic when unthrottling perf events after rescheduling. A local user can trigger a race condition in perf event handling to cause a denial of service.
The issue occurs because the active counter mask can indicate an active event while the corresponding events[] entry remains NULL, leading to a kernel crash when a PMC overflow NMI handler dereferences the missing event pointer.
Remediation
Install security update from vendor's repository.