# CVE-2026-23381: net: bridge: fix nd_tbl NULL dereference when IPv6 is disabled

> A local attacker can cause a kernel crash by sending ICMPv6 packets to a bridge with neighbor suppression enabled while IPv6 is disabled.

- **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:** 25 Mar 2026
- **Updated:** 15 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-80702, BELL-CVE-2026-23381, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-23381, GHSA-vm87-vmvc-9c38, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2026-23381, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2026-23381, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-13-CVE-2026-23381, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2026-23381, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2026-23381, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23381

## What is CVE-2026-23381?

CVE-2026-23381 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 25 Mar 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: bridge: fix nd_tbl NULL dereference when IPv6 is disabled

When booting with the 'ipv6.disable=1' parameter, the nd_tbl is never
initialized because inet6_init() exits before ndisc_init() is called
which initializes it. Then, if neigh_suppress is enabled and an ICMPv6
Neighbor Discovery packet reaches the bridge, br_do_suppress_nd() will
dereference ipv6_stub->nd_tbl which is NULL, passing it to
neigh_lookup(). This causes a kernel NULL pointer dereference.

 BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000268
 Oops: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP NOPTI
 [...]
 RIP: 0010:neigh_lookup+0x16/0xe0
 [...]
 Call Trace:
  <IRQ>
  ? neigh_lookup+0x16/0xe0
  br_do_suppress_nd+0x160/0x290 [bridge]
  br_handle_frame_finish+0x500/0x620 [bridge]
  br_handle_frame+0x353/0x440 [bridge]
  __netif_receive_skb_core.constprop.0+0x298/0x1110
  __netif_receive_skb_one_core+0x3d/0xa0
  process_backlog+0xa0/0x140
  __napi_poll+0x2c/0x170
  net_rx_action+0x2c4/0x3a0
  handle_softirqs+0xd0/0x270
  do_softirq+0x3f/0x60

Fix this by replacing IS_ENABLED(IPV6) call with ipv6_mod_enabled() in
the callers. This is in essence disabling NS/NA suppression when IPv6 is
disabled.

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-23381?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-23381?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-23381 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-23381 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-2026-23381 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-23381 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 25 Mar 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-2026-23381 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-2026-23381/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-23381/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-23381
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-23381
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-23381

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-23381/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.