CVE-2026-23210 ice: Fix PTP NULL pointer dereference during VSI rebuild
A race condition in the Intel ice network driver causes a kernel NULL pointer dereference, leading to a system crash.
- 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-2026-23210?
CVE-2026-23210 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 PTP NULL pointer dereference during VSI rebuild
Fix race condition where PTP periodic work runs while VSI is being rebuilt, accessing NULL vsi->rx_rings.
The sequence was: 1. ice_ptp_prepare_for_reset() cancels PTP work 2. ice_ptp_rebuild() immediately queues PTP work 3. VSI rebuild happens AFTER ice_ptp_rebuild() 4. PTP work runs and accesses NULL vsi->rx_rings
Fix: Keep PTP work cancelled during rebuild, only queue it after VSI rebuild completes in ice_rebuild().
Added ice_ptp_queue_work() helper function to encapsulate the logic for queuing PTP work, ensuring it's only queued when PTP is supported and the state is ICE_PTP_READY.
Error log: [ 121.392544] ice 0000:60:00.1: PTP reset successful [ 121.392692] BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000000 [ 121.392712] #PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode [ 121.392720] #PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present page [ 121.392727] PGD 0 [ 121.392734] Oops: Oops: 0000 [#1] SMP NOPTI [ 121.392746] CPU: 8 UID: 0 PID: 1005 Comm: ice-ptp-0000:60 Tainted: G S 6.19.0-rc6+ #4 PREEMPT(voluntary) [ 121.392761] Tainted: [S]=CPU_OUT_OF_SPEC [ 121.392773] RIP: 0010:ice_ptp_update_cached_phctime+0xbf/0x150 [ice] [ 121.393042] Call Trace: [ 121.393047] <TASK> [ 121.393055] ice_ptp_periodic_work+0x69/0x180 [ice] [ 121.393202] kthread_worker_fn+0xa2/0x260 [ 121.393216] ? __pfx_ice_ptp_periodic_work+0x10/0x10 [ice] [ 121.393359] ? __pfx_kthread_worker_fn+0x10/0x10 [ 121.393371] kthread+0x10d/0x230 [ 121.393382] ? __pfx_kthread+0x10/0x10 [ 121.393393] ret_from_fork+0x273/0x2b0 [ 121.393407] ? __pfx_kthread+0x10/0x10 [ 121.393417] ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30 [ 121.393432] </TASK>
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-23210?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Linux kernel.
How do I fix CVE-2026-23210?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Is CVE-2026-23210 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-23210 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2026-23210, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-23210, GHSA-7w83-2rgm-8vj5, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-13-CVE-2026-23210, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23210.