dm era: fix NULL pointer dereference in metadata_open()
Key facts
- Attack vector
- —
- Privileges required
- —
- User interaction
- —
- Attack complexity
- —
- Impact type
- —
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- —
- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 4 without a fix
No CVSS vector from any source. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat.
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: dm era: fix NULL pointer dereference in metadata_open() metadata_open() returns NULL when kzalloc_obj() fails, but the caller era_ctr() only checks IS_ERR(md). Since IS_ERR(NULL) returns false, the NULL pointer is treated as a valid result and later assigned to era->md, leading to a NULL pointer dereference when the metadata is accessed. Fix this by returning ERR_PTR(-ENOMEM) on allocation failure, consistent with dm-cache-metadata.c, dm-thin-metadata.c, and dm-clone-metadata.c which all use ERR_PTR(-ENOMEM) for the same pattern.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- No
- Technical impact
- Partial
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
Remediation
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 5.10.261, 5.15.212, 6.1.178, 6.6.145, 6.12.97, 6.18.40, 7.1.5, 7.2
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 8 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
Not affected: 1 product
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-72316
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-r48m-h265-23mg
- 2026-11-06 CISA SSVC decision points changed
References
Other 8
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a705e056c2f3dd067fb2ff414f0537530baa090b
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/bd5a80128bdfc93b1cae935a70da000b8c483e6e
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/17eb2ab13edd0b06ce6f996c5fd450d7efabb2e8
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/889374b8e4a60d13fe4a5a8ae3a311ca93d1a2c3
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/01c49eae7c6256f2d8cc08210a2bac3ee070e43a
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/14e03ecd3b1b5fc03c082b27a2f8889f8290c30e
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b69ea153d30ce19ca8997eeeca1e2219fae5a29b
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9ae672606c17891d90b282e3490b817620549599
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Sources
- CVE-2026-72316 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-72316 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-r48m-h265-23mg · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2026-72316 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences