---
id: CVE-2026-31546
title: |-
  In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

  net: bonding: fix NULL deref in bond_debug_rlb_hash_show

  rlb_clear_slave intentionally keeps RLB hash-table entries on
  the rx_hashtbl_used_head list with slave set to …
summary: |-
  In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

  net: bonding: fix NULL deref in bond_debug_rlb_hash_show

  rlb_clear_slave intentionally keeps RLB hash-table entries on
  the rx_hashtbl_used_head list with slave set to …
severity: medium
cvss: 5.5
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H'
cwe:
  - CWE-476
vendor: linux
product: linux_kernel
affected:
  - 'linux_kernel >= 2.6.38.1, < 5.10.253'
  - 'linux_kernel >= 5.11, < 5.15.203'
  - 'linux_kernel >= 5.16, < 6.1.167'
  - 'linux_kernel >= 6.2, < 6.6.130'
  - 'linux_kernel >= 6.7, < 6.12.78'
  - 'linux_kernel >= 6.13, < 6.18.20'
  - 'linux_kernel >= 6.19, < 6.19.10'
  - linux_kernel = 2.6.38
  - linux_kernel = 7.0
patched:
  - linux_kernel 6.19.10
published: '2026-04-24'
updated: '2026-10-15'
sourceUpdated: '2026-10-15T02:19:10.870'
source: NVD
sourceUrl: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-31546'
references:
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/017d674cf6930e9586a29ee808c7ca09d1396d07'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0a3f8cd3f370247ded14d38d216b49dd30eade76'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/19f0fd87df0e5746b24f5caa465a66a8c6e6e241'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2ec2c777f357a83c3d503d8d9370c90b60f0ae63'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/605b52497bf89b3b154674deb135da98f916e390'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6a3bb74e25d79cbb15f67ef80f71e2b2bfe27ff4'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ec9762f0df2f9fbe3f40a3bfa8aab8b2f721466c'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/edacf1613f7b26423ebfa8b2892e7453c4235354'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-019113.html'
    label: 0b142b55-0307-4c5a-b3c9-f314f3fb7c5e
  - url: 'https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-082556.html'
    label: 0b142b55-0307-4c5a-b3c9-f314f3fb7c5e
  - url: 'https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-457936.html'
    label: 0b142b55-0307-4c5a-b3c9-f314f3fb7c5e
tags:
  - nvd
  - cve.org
epss: 0.00129
epssPercentile: 0.02502
ingestedAt: '2026-09-08T15:33:26.990Z'
---

## Overview

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

net: bonding: fix NULL deref in bond_debug_rlb_hash_show

rlb_clear_slave intentionally keeps RLB hash-table entries on
the rx_hashtbl_used_head list with slave set to NULL when no
replacement slave is available. However, bond_debug_rlb_hash_show
visites client_info->slave without checking if it's NULL.

Other used-list iterators in bond_alb.c already handle this NULL-slave
state safely:

- rlb_update_client returns early on !client_info->slave
- rlb_req_update_slave_clients, rlb_clear_slave, and rlb_rebalance
compare slave values before visiting
- lb_req_update_subnet_clients continues if slave is NULL

The following NULL deref crash can be trigger in
bond_debug_rlb_hash_show:

[    1.289791] BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000000
[    1.292058] RIP: 0010:bond_debug_rlb_hash_show (drivers/net/bonding/bond_debugfs.c:41)
[    1.293101] RSP: 0018:ffffc900004a7d00 EFLAGS: 00010286
[    1.293333] RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: ffff888102b48200 RCX: ffff888102b48204
[    1.293631] RDX: ffff888102b48200 RSI: ffffffff839daad5 RDI: ffff888102815078
[    1.293924] RBP: ffff888102815078 R08: ffff888102b4820e R09: 0000000000000000
[    1.294267] R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000000 R12: ffff888100f929c0
[    1.294564] R13: ffff888100f92a00 R14: 0000000000000001 R15: ffffc900004a7ed8
[    1.294864] FS:  0000000001395380(0000) GS:ffff888196e75000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
[    1.295239] CS:  0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
[    1.295480] CR2: 0000000000000000 CR3: 0000000102adc004 CR4: 0000000000772ef0
[    1.295897] Call Trace:
[    1.296134]  seq_read_iter (fs/seq_file.c:231)
[    1.296341]  seq_read (fs/seq_file.c:164)
[    1.296493]  full_proxy_read (fs/debugfs/file.c:378 (discriminator 1))
[    1.296658]  vfs_read (fs/read_write.c:572)
[    1.296981]  ksys_read (fs/read_write.c:717)
[    1.297132]  do_syscall_64 (arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:63 (discriminator 1) arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:94 (discriminator 1))
[    1.297325]  entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe (arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:130)

Add a NULL check and print "(none)" for entries with no assigned slave.

## Affected

- `linux_kernel >= 2.6.38.1, < 5.10.253`
- `linux_kernel >= 5.11, < 5.15.203`
- `linux_kernel >= 5.16, < 6.1.167`
- `linux_kernel >= 6.2, < 6.6.130`
- `linux_kernel >= 6.7, < 6.12.78`
- `linux_kernel >= 6.13, < 6.18.20`
- `linux_kernel >= 6.19, < 6.19.10`
- `linux_kernel = 2.6.38`
- `linux_kernel = 7.0`

## Remediation

Upgrade past the affected range:

- `linux_kernel 6.19.10`