CVE-2026-64120
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: ethtool: fix NULL pointer dereference in phy_reply_size In phy_prepare_data(), several strings such as 'name', 'drvname', 'upstream_sfp_name', and 'downstream_sfp_name' are allocated using kstrdup(). However, these allocations were not checked for failure. If kstrdup() fails for 'name', it returns NULL while the function continues. This leads to a kernel NULL pointer dereference and panic later in phy_reply_size() when it unconditionally calls strlen() on the NULL pointer. While other strings like 'upstream_sfp_name' might be checked before access in certain code paths, failing to handle these allocations consistently can lead to incomplete data reporting or hidden bugs. Fix this by adding proper NULL checks for all kstrdup() calls in phy_prepare_data() and implement a centralized error handling path using goto labels to ensure all previously allocated resources are freed on failure.
No public exploitation has been reported so far. No distribution fix is listed yet; apply vendor mitigations and monitor.
Recommended action: Track your distribution's security tracker and apply the fix as soon as it ships.
Affected & fixed versions by distribution
Versions are the native distribution strings (backport-aware): RHEL/Debian/SUSE backport fixes, so compare with the distro version comparator (dpkg / rpm / vercmp), not the upstream version.
No affected package in the tracked watchlist yet (Debian, Ubuntu, Arch, SUSE, Red Hat...). Triage may still be pending.