CVE-2026-23174 nvme-pci: handle changing device dma map requirements
A NULL dereference in the Linux kernel NVMe driver can cause a denial of service when DMA mapping requirements change during iteration.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-23174?
CVE-2026-23174 is a vulnerability in Linux, 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:
nvme-pci: handle changing device dma map requirements
The initial state of dma_needs_unmap may be false, but change to true while mapping the data iterator. Enabling swiotlb is one such case that can change the result. The nvme driver needs to save the mapped dma vectors to be unmapped later, so allocate as needed during iteration rather than assume it was always allocated at the beginning. This fixes a NULL dereference from accessing an uninitialized dma_vecs when the device dma unmapping requirements change mid-iteration.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-23174?
How do I fix CVE-2026-23174?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Is CVE-2026-23174 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-23174 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2026-23174, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-23174, GHSA-wrw7-63r4-jj3j, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23174.