CVE-2026-22983 net: do not write to msg_get_inq in callee

What is CVE-2026-22983?

CVE-2026-22983 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 23 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: do not write to msg_get_inq in callee

NULL pointer dereference fix.

msg_get_inq is an input field from caller to callee. Don't set it in the callee, as the caller may not clear it on struct reuse.

This is a kernel-internal variant of msghdr only, and the only user does reinitialize the field. So this is not critical for that reason. But it is more robust to avoid the write, and slightly simpler code. And it fixes a bug, see below.

Callers set msg_get_inq to request the input queue length to be returned in msg_inq. This is equivalent to but independent from the SO_INQ request to return that same info as a cmsg (tp->recvmsg_inq). To reduce branching in the hot path the second also sets the msg_inq. That is WAI.

This is a fix to commit 4d1442979e4a ("af_unix: don't post cmsg for SO_INQ unless explicitly asked for"), which fixed the inverse.

Also avoid NULL pointer dereference in unix_stream_read_generic if state->msg is NULL and msg->msg_get_inq is written. A NULL state->msg can happen when splicing as of commit 2b514574f7e8 ("net: af_unix: implement splice for stream af_unix sockets").

Also collapse two branches using a bitwise or.

Weakness: CWE-476

Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-22983?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2026-22983?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Is CVE-2026-22983 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-22983 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

• CVE-2026-53266 Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2013-6282 Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2022-0185 Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2013-2094 Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2026-53362 Linux Kernel Unspecified Exploited High 7.8

All Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as BELL-CVE-2026-22983, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-22983, GHSA-3c6v-88wh-34ph, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-22983.