CVE-2026-23041 json
bnxt_en: Fix NULL pointer crash in bnxt_ptp_enable during error cleanup
published 2026-02-04 9 mo ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2026-5506
- cvss
- —
- not scored
- cisa kev
- Not listed
- not in CISA's catalog
- epss
- 0.2%
- EPSS 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 6%
- public exploits
- 0
- none known
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
bnxt_en: Fix NULL pointer crash in bnxt_ptp_enable during error cleanup
When bnxt_init_one() fails during initialization (e.g., bnxt_init_int_mode returns -ENODEV), the error path calls bnxt_free_hwrm_resources() which destroys the DMA pool and sets bp->hwrm_dma_pool to NULL. Subsequently, bnxt_ptp_clear() is called, which invokes ptp_clock_unregister().
Since commit a60fc3294a37 ("ptp: rework ptp_clock_unregister() to disable events"), ptp_clock_unregister() now calls ptp_disable_all_events(), which in turn invokes the driver's .enable() callback (bnxt_ptp_enable()) to disable PTP events before completing the unregistration.
bnxt_ptp_enable() attempts to send HWRM commands via bnxt_ptp_cfg_pin() and bnxt_ptp_cfg_event(), both of which call hwrm_req_init(). This function tries to allocate from bp->hwrm_dma_pool, causing a NULL pointer dereference:
bnxt_en 0000:01:00.0 (unnamed net_device) (uninitialized): bnxt_init_int_mode err: ffffffed KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000028-0x000000000000002f] Call Trace: __hwrm_req_init (drivers/net/ethernet/broadcom/bnxt/bnxt_hwrm.c:72) bnxt_ptp_enable (drivers/net/ethernet/broadcom/bnxt/bnxt_ptp.c:323 drivers/net/ethernet/broadcom/bnxt/bnxt_ptp.c:517) ptp_disable_all_events (drivers/ptp/ptp_chardev.c:66) ptp_clock_unregister (drivers/ptp/ptp_clock.c:518) bnxt_ptp_clear (drivers/net/ethernet/broadcom/bnxt/bnxt_ptp.c:1134) bnxt_init_one (drivers/net/ethernet/broadcom/bnxt/bnxt.c:16889)
Lines are against commit f8f9c1f4d0c7 ("Linux 6.19-rc3")
Fix this by clearing and unregistering ptp (bnxt_ptp_clear()) before freeing HWRM resources.
Patch / fix
Vendor advisories
What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.
red hat product security vex CVE-2026-23041 updated
kernel: bnxt_en: Fix NULL pointer crash in bnxt_ptp_enable during error cleanup
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Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 perf, kernel, python-perf, kernel-kdump, kernel-firmware, kernel-bootwrapper, +1 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, python-perf, kernel-kdump, +8 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, kernel-core, kernel-tools, +29 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 rv, perf, rtla, kernel, bpftool, libperf, +83 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 kernelnot affected: vulnerable code not present
Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf
Exploit prediction
0.17% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 6% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).
Affected products
- Linux Linux
Classification
- Technology feeds
References
Sources
- CVE List CVE-2026-23041
- NVD CVE-2026-23041
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