CVE-2026-23166 ice: Fix NULL pointer dereference in ice_vsi_set_napi_queues

Medium 5.5 Published 14 Feb 2026 Updated 23 May 2026

A NULL pointer dereference in the Intel ice network driver causes a kernel crash during system resume, leading to denial of service.

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

What is CVE-2026-23166?

CVE-2026-23166 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 14 Feb 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:

ice: Fix NULL pointer dereference in ice_vsi_set_napi_queues

Add NULL pointer checks in ice_vsi_set_napi_queues() to prevent crashes during resume from suspend when rings[q_idx]->q_vector is NULL.

Tested adaptor: 60:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Intel Corporation Ethernet Controller E810-XXV for SFP [8086:159b] (rev 02) Subsystem: Intel Corporation Ethernet Network Adapter E810-XXV-2 [8086:4003]

SR-IOV state: both disabled and enabled can reproduce this issue.

kernel version: v6.18

Reproduce steps: Boot up and execute suspend like systemctl suspend or rtcwake.

Log: <1>[ 231.443607] BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000040 <1>[ 231.444052] #PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode <1>[ 231.444484] #PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present page <6>[ 231.444913] PGD 0 P4D 0 <4>[ 231.445342] Oops: Oops: 0000 [#1] SMP NOPTI <4>[ 231.446635] RIP: 0010:netif_queue_set_napi+0xa/0x170 <4>[ 231.447067] Code: 31 f6 31 ff c3 cc cc cc cc 0f 1f 80 00 00 00 00 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 0f 1f 44 00 00 48 85 c9 74 0b <48> 83 79 30 00 0f 84 39 01 00 00 55 41 89 d1 49 89 f8 89 f2 48 89 <4>[ 231.447513] RSP: 0018:ffffcc780fc078c0 EFLAGS: 00010202 <4>[ 231.447961] RAX: ffff8b848ca30400 RBX: ffff8b848caf2028 RCX: 0000000000000010 <4>[ 231.448443] RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 0000000000000000 RDI: ffff8b848dbd4000 <4>[ 231.448896] RBP: ffffcc780fc078e8 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 0000000000000000 <4>[ 231.449345] R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000000 R12: 0000000000000001 <4>[ 231.449817] R13: ffff8b848dbd4000 R14: ffff8b84833390c8 R15: 0000000000000000 <4>[ 231.450265] FS: 00007c7b29e9d740(0000) GS:ffff8b8c068e2000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 <4>[ 231.450715] CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 <4>[ 231.451179] CR2: 0000000000000040 CR3: 000000030626f004 CR4: 0000000000f72ef0 <4>[ 231.451629] PKRU: 55555554 <4>[ 231.452076] Call Trace: <4>[ 231.452549] <TASK> <4>[ 231.452996] ? ice_vsi_set_napi_queues+0x4d/0x110 [ice] <4>[ 231.453482] ice_resume+0xfd/0x220 [ice] <4>[ 231.453977] ? __pfx_pci_pm_resume+0x10/0x10 <4>[ 231.454425] pci_pm_resume+0x8c/0x140 <4>[ 231.454872] ? __pfx_pci_pm_resume+0x10/0x10 <4>[ 231.455347] dpm_run_callback+0x5f/0x160 <4>[ 231.455796] ? dpm_wait_for_superior+0x107/0x170 <4>[ 231.456244] device_resume+0x177/0x270 <4>[ 231.456708] dpm_resume+0x209/0x2f0 <4>[ 231.457151] dpm_resume_end+0x15/0x30 <4>[ 231.457596] suspend_devices_and_enter+0x1da/0x2b0 <4>[ 231.458054] enter_state+0x10e/0x570

Add defensive checks for both the ring pointer and its q_vector before dereferencing, allowing the system to resume successfully even when q_vectors are unmapped.

Weakness: CWE-476

Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-23166?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2026-23166?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Is CVE-2026-23166 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-23166 in the wild and no public exploit code.

All Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Sources

Also known as BELL-CVE-2026-23166, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-23166, GHSA-5p9c-24w4-pq6q, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2026-23166, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23166.