# CVE-2026-22976: net/sched: sch_qfq: Fix NULL deref when deactivating inactive aggregate in qfq_reset

> A NULL pointer dereference in the Linux kernel's QFQ scheduler allows local attackers to cause a system crash via specific qdisc configurations.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 21 Jan 2026
- **Updated:** 19 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-78446, BELL-CVE-2026-22976, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-22976, GHSA-f4fv-h3x5-8339, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2026-22976, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2026-22976, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-13-CVE-2026-22976, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2026-22976, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2026-22976, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-22976

## What is CVE-2026-22976?

CVE-2026-22976 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 21 Jan 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

net/sched: sch_qfq: Fix NULL deref when deactivating inactive aggregate in qfq_reset

`qfq_class->leaf_qdisc->q.qlen > 0` does not imply that the class
itself is active.

Two qfq_class objects may point to the same leaf_qdisc. This happens
when:

1. one QFQ qdisc is attached to the dev as the root qdisc, and

2. another QFQ qdisc is temporarily referenced (e.g., via qdisc_get()
/ qdisc_put()) and is pending to be destroyed, as in function
tc_new_tfilter.

When packets are enqueued through the root QFQ qdisc, the shared
leaf_qdisc->q.qlen increases. At the same time, the second QFQ
qdisc triggers qdisc_put and qdisc_destroy: the qdisc enters
qfq_reset() with its own q->q.qlen == 0, but its class's leaf
qdisc->q.qlen > 0. Therefore, the qfq_reset would wrongly deactivate
an inactive aggregate and trigger a null-deref in qfq_deactivate_agg:

[    0.903172] BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000000
[    0.903571] #PF: supervisor write access in kernel mode
[    0.903860] #PF: error_code(0x0002) - not-present page
[    0.904177] PGD 10299b067 P4D 10299b067 PUD 10299c067 PMD 0
[    0.904502] Oops: Oops: 0002 [#1] SMP NOPTI
[    0.904737] CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 135 Comm: exploit Not tainted 6.19.0-rc3+ #2 NONE
[    0.905157] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS rel-1.17.0-0-gb52ca86e094d-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014
[    0.905754] RIP: 0010:qfq_deactivate_agg (include/linux/list.h:992 (discriminator 2) include/linux/list.h:1006 (discriminator 2) net/sched/sch_qfq.c:1367 (discriminator 2) net/sched/sch_qfq.c:1393 (discriminator 2))
[    0.906046] Code: 0f 84 4d 01 00 00 48 89 70 18 8b 4b 10 48 c7 c2 ff ff ff ff 48 8b 78 08 48 d3 e2 48 21 f2 48 2b 13 48 8b 30 48 d3 ea 8b 4b 18 0

Code starting with the faulting instruction
===========================================
   0:	0f 84 4d 01 00 00    	je     0x153
   6:	48 89 70 18          	mov    %rsi,0x18(%rax)
   a:	8b 4b 10             	mov    0x10(%rbx),%ecx
   d:	48 c7 c2 ff ff ff ff 	mov    $0xffffffffffffffff,%rdx
  14:	48 8b 78 08          	mov    0x8(%rax),%rdi
  18:	48 d3 e2             	shl    %cl,%rdx
  1b:	48 21 f2             	and    %rsi,%rdx
  1e:	48 2b 13             	sub    (%rbx),%rdx
  21:	48 8b 30             	mov    (%rax),%rsi
  24:	48 d3 ea             	shr    %cl,%rdx
  27:	8b 4b 18             	mov    0x18(%rbx),%ecx
	...
[    0.907095] RSP: 0018:ffffc900004a39a0 EFLAGS: 00010246
[    0.907368] RAX: ffff8881043a0880 RBX: ffff888102953340 RCX: 0000000000000000
[    0.907723] RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 0000000000000000 RDI: 0000000000000000
[    0.908100] RBP: ffff888102952180 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 0000000000000000
[    0.908451] R10: ffff8881043a0000 R11: 0000000000000000 R12: ffff888102952000
[    0.908804] R13: ffff888102952180 R14: ffff8881043a0ad8 R15: ffff8881043a0880
[    0.909179] FS:  000000002a1a0380(0000) GS:ffff888196d8d000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
[    0.909572] CS:  0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
[    0.909857] CR2: 0000000000000000 CR3: 0000000102993002 CR4: 0000000000772ef0
[    0.910247] PKRU: 55555554
[    0.910391] Call Trace:
[    0.910527]  <TASK>
[    0.910638]  qfq_reset_qdisc (net/sched/sch_qfq.c:357 net/sched/sch_qfq.c:1485)
[    0.910826]  qdisc_reset (include/linux/skbuff.h:2195 include/linux/skbuff.h:2501 include/linux/skbuff.h:3424 include/linux/skbuff.h:3430 net/sched/sch_generic.c:1036)
[    0.911040]  __qdisc_destroy (net/sched/sch_generic.c:1076)
[    0.911236]  tc_new_tfilter (net/sched/cls_api.c:2447)
[    0.911447]  rtnetlink_rcv_msg (net/core/rtnetlink.c:6958)
[    0.911663]  ? __pfx_rtnetlink_rcv_msg (net/core/rtnetlink.c:6861)
[    0.911894]  netlink_rcv_skb (net/netlink/af_netlink.c:2550)
[    0.912100]  netlink_unicast (net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1319 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1344)
[    0.912296]  ? __alloc_skb (net/core/skbuff.c:706)
[    0.912484]  netlink_sendmsg (net/netlink/af
---truncated---

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-22976?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-22976?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-22976 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-22976 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

- [CVE-2026-53266](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53266/): Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-6282](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-6282/): Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-0185](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-0185/): Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-2094](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-2094/): Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-53362](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53362/): Linux Kernel Unspecified (high 7.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-22976 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-22976 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 21 Jan 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-22976 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux kernel. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-22976/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-22976/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-22976
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-22976
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-22976

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-22976/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.