# CVE-2026-43421: usb: gadget: f_ncm: Fix net_device lifecycle with device_move

> A null pointer dereference in the Linux kernel USB NCM gadget driver can cause a system crash during device disconnection.

- **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:** 15 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2026-43421, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-43421, GHSA-w77g-4c35-prwp, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2026-43421, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2026-43421, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2026-43421, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2026-43421, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-43421

## What is CVE-2026-43421?

CVE-2026-43421 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:

usb: gadget: f_ncm: Fix net_device lifecycle with device_move

The network device outlived its parent gadget device during
disconnection, resulting in dangling sysfs links and null pointer
dereference problems.

A prior attempt to solve this by removing SET_NETDEV_DEV entirely [1]
was reverted due to power management ordering concerns and a NO-CARRIER
regression.

A subsequent attempt to defer net_device allocation to bind [2] broke
1:1 mapping between function instance and network device, making it
impossible for configfs to report the resolved interface name. This
results in a regression where the DHCP server fails on pmOS.

Use device_move to reparent the net_device between the gadget device and
/sys/devices/virtual/ across bind/unbind cycles. This preserves the
network interface across USB reconnection, allowing the DHCP server to
retain their binding.

Introduce gether_attach_gadget()/gether_detach_gadget() helpers and use
__free(detach_gadget) macro to undo attachment on bind failure. The
bind_count ensures device_move executes only on the first bind.

[1] https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/f2a4f9847617a0929d62025748384092e5f35cce.camel@crapouillou.net/
[2] https://lore.kernel.org/linux-usb/795ea759-7eaf-4f78-81f4-01ffbf2d7961@ixit.cz/

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-43421?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-43421?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-43421 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-43421 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-2026-43421 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-43421 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-2026-43421 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-2026-43421/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-43421/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-43421
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-43421
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-43421

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-43421/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.