# CVE-2026-53080: net/sched: cls_fw: fix NULL dereference of "old" filters before change()
> A NULL pointer dereference in the Linux kernel's cls_fw classifier allows local attackers to cause a system crash via crafted network traffic.
- **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:** 24 Jun 2026
- **Updated:** 15 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-90789, BELL-CVE-2026-53080, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-53080, GHSA-6vxh-r6p9-w9ch, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2026-53080, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2026-53080, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-53080
## What is CVE-2026-53080?
CVE-2026-53080 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 24 Jun 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/sched: cls_fw: fix NULL dereference of "old" filters before change()
Like pointed out by Sashiko [1], since commit ed76f5edccc9 ("net: sched:
protect filter_chain list with filter_chain_lock mutex") TC filters are
added to a shared block and published to datapath before their ->change()
function is called. This is a problem for cls_fw: an invalid filter
created with the "old" method can still classify some packets before it
is destroyed by the validation logic added by Xiang.
Therefore, insisting with repeated runs of the following script:
# ip link add dev crash0 type dummy
# ip link set dev crash0 up
# mausezahn crash0 -c 100000 -P 10 \
> -A 4.3.2.1 -B 1.2.3.4 -t udp "dp=1234" -q &
# sleep 1
# tc qdisc add dev crash0 egress_block 1 clsact
# tc filter add block 1 protocol ip prio 1 matchall \
> action skbedit mark 65536 continue
# tc filter add block 1 protocol ip prio 2 fw
# ip link del dev crash0
can still make fw_classify() hit the WARN_ON() in [2]:
WARNING: ./include/net/pkt_cls.h:88 at fw_classify+0x244/0x250 [cls_fw], CPU#18: mausezahn/1399
Modules linked in: cls_fw(E) act_skbedit(E)
CPU: 18 UID: 0 PID: 1399 Comm: mausezahn Tainted: G E 7.0.0-rc6-virtme #17 PREEMPT(full)
Tainted: [E]=UNSIGNED_MODULE
Hardware name: Red Hat KVM, BIOS 1.16.3-2.el9 04/01/2014
RIP: 0010:fw_classify+0x244/0x250 [cls_fw]
Code: 5c 49 c7 45 00 00 00 00 00 41 5d 41 5e 41 5f 5d c3 cc cc cc cc 5b b8 ff ff ff ff 41 5c 41 5d 41 5e 41 5f 5d c3 cc cc cc cc 90 <0f> 0b 90 eb a0 0f 1f 80 00 00 00 00 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90
RSP: 0018:ffffd1b7026bf8a8 EFLAGS: 00010202
RAX: ffff8c5ac9c60800 RBX: ffff8c5ac99322c0 RCX: 0000000000000004
RDX: 0000000000000001 RSI: ffff8c5b74d7a000 RDI: ffff8c5ac8284f40
RBP: ffffd1b7026bf8d0 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: ffffd1b7026bf9b0
R10: 00000000ffffffff R11: 0000000000000000 R12: 0000000000010000
R13: ffffd1b7026bf930 R14: ffff8c5ac8284f40 R15: 0000000000000000
FS: 00007fca40c37740(0000) GS:ffff8c5b74d7a000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
CR2: 00007fca40e822a0 CR3: 0000000005ca0001 CR4: 0000000000172ef0
Call Trace:
tcf_classify+0x17d/0x5c0
tc_run+0x9d/0x150
__dev_queue_xmit+0x2ab/0x14d0
ip_finish_output2+0x340/0x8f0
ip_output+0xa4/0x250
raw_sendmsg+0x147d/0x14b0
__sys_sendto+0x1cc/0x1f0
__x64_sys_sendto+0x24/0x30
do_syscall_64+0x126/0xf80
entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f
RIP: 0033:0x7fca40e822ba
Code: d8 64 89 02 48 c7 c0 ff ff ff ff eb b8 0f 1f 00 f3 0f 1e fa 41 89 ca 64 8b 04 25 18 00 00 00 85 c0 75 15 b8 2c 00 00 00 0f 05 <48> 3d 00 f0 ff ff 77 7e c3 0f 1f 44 00 00 41 54 48 83 ec 30 44 89
RSP: 002b:00007ffc248a42c8 EFLAGS: 00000246 ORIG_RAX: 000000000000002c
RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 000055ef233289d0 RCX: 00007fca40e822ba
RDX: 000000000000001e RSI: 000055ef23328c30 RDI: 0000000000000003
RBP: 000055ef233289d0 R08: 00007ffc248a42d0 R09: 0000000000000010
R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000246 R12: 000000000000001e
R13: 00000000000186a0 R14: 0000000000000000 R15: 00007fca41043000
irq event stamp: 1045778
hardirqs last enabled at (1045784): [] __up_console_sem+0x52/0x60
hardirqs last disabled at (1045789): [] __up_console_sem+0x37/0x60
softirqs last enabled at (1045426): [] __alloc_skb+0x207/0x260
softirqs last disabled at (1045434): [] __dev_queue_xmit+0x78/0x14d0
Then, because of the value in the packet's mark, dereference on 'q->handle'
with NULL 'q' occurs:
BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000038
[...]
RIP: 0010:fw_classify+0x1fe/0x250 [cls_fw]
[...]
Skip "old-style" classification on shared blocks, so that the NULL
dereference is fixed and WARN_ON() is not hit anymore in the short
lifetime of invalid cls_fw "old-style" filters.
[1] https://sashiko.dev/#/patchset/2
---truncated---
Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)
## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-53080?
It affects 1 product.
Products: Linux kernel.
## How do I fix CVE-2026-53080?
Apply the vendor's patch.
## Is CVE-2026-53080 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-53080 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-2026-53080 and fix it if it is affected.
What it is: CVE-2026-53080 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 24 Jun 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-2026-53080 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-2026-53080/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53080/index.md)
```
## Sources
- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-53080
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-53080
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-53080
---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53080/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.