bonding: refuse to enslave CAN devices
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Local
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- Denial of service
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- None · None · High
- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 5 without a fix
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · NVD. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat. Impact type from CWE-476.
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: bonding: refuse to enslave CAN devices syzbot reported a kernel paging request crash in can_rx_unregister() inside net/can/af_can.c. The crash occurs because a virtual CAN device (vxcan) is being enslaved to a bonding master. During the enslavement process, the bonding driver mutates and modifies the network device states to fit an Ethernet-like aggregation model. However, CAN devices operate on a completely different Layer 2 architecture, relying on the CAN mid-layer private data structure (can_ml_priv) instead of standard Ethernet structures. Since bonding does not initialize or maintain these CAN structures, subsequent operations on the half-enslaved interface (such as closing associated sockets via isotp_release) lead to a null-pointer dereference when accessing the CAN receiver lists. Bonding CAN interfaces is architecturally invalid as CAN lacks MAC addresses, ARP capabilities, and standard Ethernet link-layer mechanisms. While generic loopback devices are blocked globally in net/core/dev.c, virtual CAN devices bypass this check because they do not carry the IFF_LOOPBACK flag, despite acting as local software-loopbacks. Fix this by explicitly blocking network devices of type ARPHRD_CAN from being enslaved at the very beginning of bond_enslave(). This prevents illegal state mutations, eliminates the resulting KASAN crashes, and avoids potential memory leaks from incomplete socket cleanups. As the CAN support has been added a long time after bonding the Fixes-tag points to the introduction of ARPHRD_CAN that would have needed a specific handling in bonding_main.c.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
Not available: CISA has not published SSVC decision points for this record.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Linux | Linux | 2.6.25 and later | 5.15.210, 6.1.176, 6.6.143, 6.12.93, 6.18.35, 7.0.12, 7.1 | Patch available | CNA |
- Linux VendorLinux Affected 2.6.25 and later Fixed in 5.15.210, 6.1.176, 6.6.143, 6.12.93, 6.18.35, 7.0.12, 7.1 Patch available CNA
CPE configurations NVD · 6
| CPE | Versions | Role | Vendor |
|---|---|---|---|
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | 2.6.25 to before 5.15.210; 5.16 to before 6.1.176; 6.2 to before 6.6.143; 6.7 to before 6.12.93; 6.13 to before 6.18.35; 6.19 to before 7.0.12 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.1:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:* | 7.1 rc1 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.1:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:* | 7.1 rc2 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.1:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:* | 7.1 rc3 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.1:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:* | 7.1 rc4 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.1:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:* | 7.1 rc5 | Vulnerable | Linux |
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 2.6.25 to before 5.15.210; 5.16 to before 6.1.176; 6.2 to before 6.6.143; 6.7 to before 6.12.93; 6.13 to before 6.18.35; 6.19 to before 7.0.12 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.1:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 7.1 rc1 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.1:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 7.1 rc2 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.1:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 7.1 rc3 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.1:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 7.1 rc4 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.1:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 7.1 rc5 Vulnerable ·Linux
Remediation
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 5.15.210, 6.1.176, 6.6.143, 6.12.93, 6.18.35, 7.0.12, 7.1
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Low. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-63990
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-vcmq-h7g2-2m6j
- 2026-10-07 CVSS score added · NVD
- 2026-10-07 Weakness changed · NVD
- 2026-10-09 Weakness changed · NVD
- 2026-10-13 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
References
Patch 7
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/69b78b5f3033272e53a2dc2dad675962654a5b38
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/41e8478c4cd896d3abbe33d41afc90c84ac66602
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f4d78a81f57df82e9d82a2c07471fed1a1235893
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/02f1c87ded33b43d48b4a1d665da15f2157b30d8
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9ea8a648d9120f7652bcde1ce2c4ad66871af707
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/563090e5d450c665f70d955a39f9587afc7842eb
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8ba68464e4787b6a7ec938826e16124df20fd23d
More Linux Kernel vulnerabilities
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- TI-2013-05264 The (1) get_user and (2) put_user API functions in the Linux kernel before 3.5.5 on the… KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
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- TI-2013-01864 The perf_swevent_init function in kernel/events/core.c in the Linux kernel before 3.8.9… KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.4
- TI-2021-05514 Heap Out-Of-Bounds Write in Netfilter IP6T_SO_SET_REPLACE KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.3
Sources
- CVE-2026-63990 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-63990 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-vcmq-h7g2-2m6j · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2026-63990 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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