CVE-2026-74741 net: ngbe: fix NULL pointer dereference in non-MSI-X interrupt enabling
A NULL pointer dereference in the ngbe network driver causes a kernel crash when non-MSI-X interrupts are used, leading to denial of service.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-74741?
CVE-2026-74741 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux, published on 26 Aug 2026. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Official description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
net: ngbe: fix NULL pointer dereference in non-MSI-X interrupt enabling
In non-MSI-X mode (such as legacy INTx or single MSI), wx->msix_entry is not allocated or initialized. Calling NGBE_INTR_MISC(wx) dereferences wx->msix_entry->entry, leading to a NULL pointer dereference crash.
This issue was introduced by fixing the IRQ vector when the number of VFs is 7. Fix the issue by explicitly checking `pdev->msix_enabled` to determine the correct vector index.
Additionally, as a side fix, set the interrupt mask to BIT(0) for the non-MSI-X fallback. In MSI/INTx mode, the MISC and queue interrupts share vector 0, and the WX_PX_MISC_IVAR register is only valid in the MSI-X case. Thus, BIT(0) is the correct mask for the miscellaneous cause when MSI-X is disabled.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-74741?
How do I fix CVE-2026-74741?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Is CVE-2026-74741 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-74741 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2026-74741, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-74741, GHSA-6j22-8cx7-cjfj, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-74741.