# CVE-2026-23189: ceph: fix NULL pointer dereference in ceph_mds_auth_match()

> A NULL pointer dereference in the Linux kernel's CephFS client can cause a system crash when handling MDS authentication matches.

- **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:** 14 Feb 2026
- **Updated:** 23 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2026-23189, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-23189, GHSA-r35m-5r25-v2fx, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-13-CVE-2026-23189, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23189

## What is CVE-2026-23189?

CVE-2026-23189 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:

ceph: fix NULL pointer dereference in ceph_mds_auth_match()

The CephFS kernel client has regression starting from 6.18-rc1.
We have issue in ceph_mds_auth_match() if fs_name == NULL:

    const char fs_name = mdsc->fsc->mount_options->mds_namespace;
    ...
    if (auth->match.fs_name && strcmp(auth->match.fs_name, fs_name)) {
            / fsname mismatch, try next one */
            return 0;
    }

Patrick Donnelly suggested that: In summary, we should definitely start
decoding `fs_name` from the MDSMap and do strict authorizations checks
against it. Note that the `-o mds_namespace=foo` should only be used for
selecting the file system to mount and nothing else. It's possible
no mds_namespace is specified but the kernel will mount the only
file system that exists which may have name "foo".

This patch reworks ceph_mdsmap_decode() and namespace_equals() with
the goal of supporting the suggested concept. Now struct ceph_mdsmap
contains m_fs_name field that receives copy of extracted FS name
by ceph_extract_encoded_string(). For the case of "old" CephFS file
systems, it is used "cephfs" name.

[ idryomov: replace redundant %*pE with %s in ceph_mdsmap_decode(),
  get rid of a series of strlen() calls in ceph_namespace_match(),
  drop changes to namespace_equals() body to avoid treating empty
  mds_namespace as equal, drop changes to ceph_mdsc_handle_fsmap()
  as namespace_equals() isn't an equivalent substitution there ]

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-23189?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-23189?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-23189 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-23189 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-2026-23189 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-23189 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.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-23189 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-2026-23189/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-23189/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-23189
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-23189
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-23189

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-23189/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.