# CVE-2026-43356: iio: imu: adis: Fix NULL pointer dereference in adis_init

> A NULL pointer dereference in the Linux kernel's adis_init function allows local attackers to cause a system crash via specific IMU drivers.

- **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:** 8 May 2026
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2026-43356, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-43356, GHSA-6g6f-cc29-q2wg, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-43356

## What is CVE-2026-43356?

CVE-2026-43356 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 8 May 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:

iio: imu: adis: Fix NULL pointer dereference in adis_init

The adis_init() function dereferences adis->ops to check if the
individual function pointers (write, read, reset) are NULL, but does
not first check if adis->ops itself is NULL.

Drivers like adis16480, adis16490, adis16545 and others do not set
custom ops and rely on adis_init() assigning the defaults. Since struct
adis is zero-initialized by devm_iio_device_alloc(), adis->ops is NULL
when adis_init() is called, causing a NULL pointer dereference:

    Unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at virtual address 0000000000000000
    pc : adis_init+0xc0/0x118
    Call trace:
     adis_init+0xc0/0x118
     adis16480_probe+0xe0/0x670

Fix this by checking if adis->ops is NULL before dereferencing it,
falling through to assign the default ops in that case.

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-43356?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-43356?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-43356 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-43356 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-2026-43356 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-43356 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 8 May 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-2026-43356 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-2026-43356/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-43356/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-43356
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-43356
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-43356

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-43356/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.