# CVE-2026-46079: rbd: fix null-ptr-deref when device_add_disk() fails

> A null pointer dereference in the Linux kernel RBD driver causes a system crash when disk addition fails, requiring specific fault injection conditions to trigger.

- **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:** 27 May 2026
- **Updated:** 14 Jun 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-88520, BELL-CVE-2026-46079, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-46079, GHSA-8v7w-qf4c-rv8c, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2026-46079, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2026-46079, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-46079

## What is CVE-2026-46079?

CVE-2026-46079 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 27 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:

rbd: fix null-ptr-deref when device_add_disk() fails

do_rbd_add() publishes the device with device_add() before calling
device_add_disk(). If device_add_disk() fails after device_add()
succeeds, the error path calls rbd_free_disk() directly and then later
falls through to rbd_dev_device_release(), which calls rbd_free_disk()
again. This double teardown can leave blk-mq cleanup operating on
invalid state and trigger a null-ptr-deref in
__blk_mq_free_map_and_rqs(), reached from blk_mq_free_tag_set().

Fix this by following the normal remove ordering: call device_del()
before rbd_dev_device_release() when device_add_disk() fails after
device_add(). That keeps the teardown sequence consistent and avoids
re-entering disk cleanup through the wrong path.

The bug was first flagged by an experimental analysis tool we are
developing for kernel memory-management bugs while analyzing
v6.13-rc1. The tool is still under development and is not yet publicly
available.

We reproduced the bug on v7.0 with a real Ceph backend and a QEMU x86_64
guest booted with KASAN and CONFIG_FAILSLAB enabled. The reproducer
confines failslab injections to the __add_disk() range and injects
fail-nth while mapping an RBD image through
/sys/bus/rbd/add_single_major.

On the unpatched kernel, fail-nth=4 reliably triggered the fault:

	Oops: general protection fault, probably for non-canonical address 0xdffffc0000000000: 0000 [#1] SMP KASAN NOPTI
	KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000000-0x0000000000000007]
	CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 273 Comm: bash Not tainted 7.0.0-01247-gd60bc1401583 #6 PREEMPT(lazy)
	Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS 1.15.0-1 04/01/2014
	RIP: 0010:__blk_mq_free_map_and_rqs+0x8c/0x240
	Code: 00 00 48 8b 6b 60 41 89 f4 49 c1 e4 03 4c 01 e5 45 85 ed 0f 85 0a 01 00 00 48 b8 00 00 00 00 00 fc ff df 48 89 e9 48 c1 e9 03 <80> 3c 01 00 0f 85 31 01 00 00 4c 8b 6d 00 4d 85 ed 0f 84 e2 00 00
	RSP: 0018:ff1100000ab0fac8 EFLAGS: 00000246
	RAX: dffffc0000000000 RBX: ff1100000c4806a0 RCX: 0000000000000000
	RDX: 0000000000000002 RSI: 0000000000000000 RDI: ff1100000c4806f4
	RBP: 0000000000000000 R08: 0000000000000001 R09: ffe21c000189001b
	R10: ff1100000c4800df R11: ff1100006cf37be0 R12: 0000000000000000
	R13: 0000000000000000 R14: ff1100000c480700 R15: ff1100000c480004
	FS:  00007f0fbe8fe740(0000) GS:ff110000e5851000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
	CS:  0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
	CR2: 00007fe53473b2e0 CR3: 0000000012eef000 CR4: 00000000007516f0
	PKRU: 55555554
	Call Trace:
	 <TASK>
	 blk_mq_free_tag_set+0x77/0x460
	 do_rbd_add+0x1446/0x2b80
	 ? __pfx_do_rbd_add+0x10/0x10
	 ? lock_acquire+0x18c/0x300
	 ? find_held_lock+0x2b/0x80
	 ? sysfs_file_kobj+0xb6/0x1b0
	 ? __pfx_sysfs_kf_write+0x10/0x10
	 kernfs_fop_write_iter+0x2f4/0x4a0
	 vfs_write+0x98e/0x1000
	 ? expand_files+0x51f/0x850
	 ? __pfx_vfs_write+0x10/0x10
	 ksys_write+0xf2/0x1d0
	 ? __pfx_ksys_write+0x10/0x10
	 do_syscall_64+0x115/0x690
	 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f
	RIP: 0033:0x7f0fbea15907
	Code: 10 00 f7 d8 64 89 02 48 c7 c0 ff ff ff ff eb b7 0f 1f 00 f3 0f 1e fa 64 8b 04 25 18 00 00 00 85 c0 75 10 b8 01 00 00 00 0f 05 <48> 3d 00 f0 ff ff 77 51 c3 48 83 ec 28 48 89 54 24 18 48 89 74 24
	RSP: 002b:00007ffe22346ea8 EFLAGS: 00000246 ORIG_RAX: 0000000000000001
	RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 0000000000000058 RCX: 00007f0fbea15907
	RDX: 0000000000000058 RSI: 0000563ace6c0ef0 RDI: 0000000000000001
	RBP: 0000563ace6c0ef0 R08: 0000563ace6c0ef0 R09: 6b6435726d694141
	R10: 5250337279762f78 R11: 0000000000000246 R12: 0000000000000058
	R13: 00007f0fbeb1c780 R14: ff1100000c480700 R15: ff1100000c480004
	 </TASK>

With this fix applied, rerunning the reproducer over fail-nth=1..256
yields no KASAN reports.

[ idryomov: rename err_out_device_del -> err_out_device ]

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-46079?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-46079?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-46079 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-46079 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-2026-46079 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-46079 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 27 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-2026-46079 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-2026-46079/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-46079/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-46079
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-46079
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-46079

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-46079/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.