CVE-2026-98098 tipc: fix NULL deref in tipc_named_node_up() on empty publication list

What is CVE-2026-98098?

CVE-2026-98098 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 25 Sep 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:

tipc: fix NULL deref in tipc_named_node_up() on empty publication list

User-space applications can bind a large number of service addresses to one or more sockets. Each binding of a local-scope service address inserts one entry (publication) into the TIPC name table. If the number of these publications exceeds TIPC_MAX_PUBL (65535), protocol service types (such as node state and link state) are no longer inserted into the name table. This causes two issues:

1. User-space applications subscribing to node or link up/down events stop receiving notifications.

2. A NULL pointer dereference can occur:

BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 00000000000000d0 ... CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 0 Comm: swapper/0 Not tainted 7.2.0-rc4-default+ #5 PREEMPT(full) ... RIP: 0010:tipc_named_node_up (./include/linux/skbuff.h:2251 net/tipc/name_distr.c:195 net/tipc/name_distr.c:221) ... Call Trace: <IRQ> tipc_node_write_unlock (net/tipc/node.c:428) tipc_rcv (net/tipc/node.c:934 net/tipc/node.c:2189) tipc_udp_recv (net/tipc/udp_media.c:389)

Thread 1 (tipc_net_finalize) | Thread 2 (named_distribute) -----------------------------|----------------------------- | ... | list_for_each_entry(publ, pls, binding_node) { | ... | __skb_queue_tail(list, skb); | ... | } | ... | hdr = buf_msg(skb_peek_tail(list)); ... | tipc_nametbl_publish(); |

If 'tipc_nametbl_publish()' (Thread 1) fails because the number of local publications reaches TIPC_MAX_PUBL, list (Thread 2) will be empty. As a result, NULL is passed to 'buf_msg()', leading to a NULL pointer dereference.

Fix these issues by allowing protocol service types (node state, link state, and topology server) to be inserted into the name table unconditionally. This ensures that users subscribing to these types always receive notifications. In addition, the maximum number of local user publications is reduced to (TIPC_MAX_PUBL - 1). This ensures that the maximum bulk size calculated in tipc_link_set_queue_limits() remains valid.

Weakness: CWE-476

Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-98098?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2026-98098?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Is CVE-2026-98098 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-98098 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

• CVE-2026-53266 Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2013-6282 Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2022-0185 Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2013-2094 Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2026-53362 Linux Kernel Unspecified Exploited High 7.8

All Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as AZL-104502, BELL-CVE-2026-98098, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-98098, GHSA-vgfp-jj93-v4hf, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-98098.