Medium [CVE-2026-53337] fix NULL pointer dereference in bond_do_ioctl
This medium-severity Red Hat Linux advisory covers CVE-2026-53337 affecting Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.
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Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: bonding: fix NULL pointer dereference in bond_do_ioctl() In bond_do_ioctl(), slave_dev is obtained via __dev_get_by_name() which can return NULL if the requested interface name does not exist.
However, the subsequent slave_dbg() call is placed before the NULL check: slave_dev = __dev_get_by_name(net, ifr->ifr_slave); slave_dbg(bond_dev, slave_dev, "slave_dev=%p:\n", slave_dev); //here if (!slave_dev) return -ENODEV; The slave_dbg() macro expands to netdev_dbg(bond_dev, "(slave %s): " fmt, (slave_dev)->name,...) which unconditionally dereferences slave_dev->name before the NULL check is performed.
This results in a NULL pointer dereference kernel oops when a user calls bonding ioctl (e.g. SIOCBONDENSLAVE, SIOCBONDRELEASE, etc.) with a non-existent slave interface name.
This is reachable from userspace via the bonding ioctl interface with CAP_NET_ADMIN capability, making it a potential local denial-of-service vector. This vulnerability can lead to a kernel oops, resulting in a local Denial of Service (DoS) for the affected system.
Red Hat severity: Low — CVSS 5.5 (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H). Weakness: CWE-476.
Affected Red Hat products: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10; Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6; Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8; Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.
Affected versions
No affected-version range was extracted from the source record. The vendor advisory is authoritative — check it before change work.
Official advisory · medium-confidence parse· fetched 9 days ago·verify at source
Fixed versions
No fixed release is recorded yet. That does not prove no patch exists — confirm against the vendor advisory.
Official advisory · medium-confidence parse· fetched 9 days ago·verify at source
Mitigation
The source record does not include mitigation steps. That is not a statement that no fix exists — read the vendor advisory below for the authoritative guidance.
Official advisory · medium-confidence parse· fetched 9 days ago·verify at source
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