# CVE-2026-72316: dm era: fix NULL pointer dereference in metadata_open()

> A local attacker with high privileges can trigger a NULL pointer dereference in the Linux kernel dm era driver, causing a system crash.

- **Severity:** Not scored
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** An administrator
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 15 Aug 2026
- **Updated:** 17 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2026-72316, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-72316, GHSA-r48m-h265-23mg, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-72316

## What is CVE-2026-72316?

CVE-2026-72316 is a vulnerability in Linux, published on 15 Aug 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:

dm era: fix NULL pointer dereference in metadata_open()

metadata_open() returns NULL when kzalloc_obj() fails, but the
caller era_ctr() only checks IS_ERR(md).  Since IS_ERR(NULL)
returns false, the NULL pointer is treated as a valid result
and later assigned to era->md, leading to a NULL pointer
dereference when the metadata is accessed.

Fix this by returning ERR_PTR(-ENOMEM) on allocation failure,
consistent with dm-cache-metadata.c, dm-thin-metadata.c, and
dm-clone-metadata.c which all use ERR_PTR(-ENOMEM) for the
same pattern.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-72316?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-72316?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-72316 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-72316 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-72316 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-72316 is a vulnerability in Linux, published on 15 Aug 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-2026-72316 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux. 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-2026-72316/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-72316/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-72316
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-72316
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-72316

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-72316/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.