CVE-2026-97601

What the bug is

TUNSETLINK allows a TUN device to change its link-layer type to ARPHRD_IEEE802154 without initializing ieee802154_ptr. lowpan_newlink() checks only the device type before dereferencing the pointer, so an RTM_NEWLINK request can trigger a NULL pointer dereference. Reject devices without ieee802154_ptr along with devices of the wrong type.

Where it lives

The fix touches these files. If the subsystem is one you do not use, the practical exposure is lower, though the package is still the vulnerable one.

net/ieee802154/6lowpan/core.c

What this is

IEEE 802.15.4 SUBSYSTEMMAINTAINERS section matched on net/ieee802154/ · linux-wpan@vger.kernel.org · Maintained

Kernel module

ieee802154_6lowpan

Check it on the machine

grep -wE 'CONFIG_IEEE802154|CONFIG_IEEE802154_6LOWPAN' /boot/config-$(uname -r)

Reads the booted kernel's own configuration, on the machine and nowhere else. =y is built in, =m is a module, and an is not set line means the code is not there.

lsmod | grep -w ieee802154_6lowpan

Prints a line if that module is loaded right now, and nothing if it is not. One that is not loaded can still be loaded later by anything that needs it.

Show whether Debian builds this, per release

Debian builds this, but not on every flavour. At least one release below builds the code on some of its kernel flavours and not on others, so the answer depends on the architecture and flavour installed.

• bookworm, trixie, forky, sid, bookworm · linux-6.12Mnot built on amd64/cloud-amd64, arm64/cloud-arm64

M

a module where it is built at all; some flavours do not build it

Build switches

CONFIG_IEEE802154, CONFIG_IEEE802154_6LOWPAN

Reads as

all on means the file is compiled; any one off means it is not.

From the configuration Debian publishes for every kernel flavour it builds. It covers only the architectures Debian ships a linux-config package for, and nothing about a kernel you built yourself. Debian's own status above stays authoritative about the source package.MAINTAINERS kbuild Makefiles Debian linux-config packages

Signals

Published

2026-09-25 (24 days ago)source

CVSS

no vector published, unrated

Attack vector

not published

EPSS

0.21%, higher than 10.5% of all CVEssource

CISA KEV

not listedthe KEV catalogue

Debian urgency

not yet assignedsource

Subsystem

net/ieee802154

Upstream fixes

The versions the CNA records as introducing and fixing this, and the commit for each. source

Introduced	Fixed in	Commit
4.3	5.10.271	a1760f21c32a
4.3	5.15.222	5063b9354e6e
4.3	6.1.189	16d8e0b560d5
4.3	6.6.158	543994fa03c3
4.3	6.12.111	1c7710af7ad9
4.3	6.18.53	98ce5a42cde7
4.3	7.2.7	8528da2333ce
4.3	7.3	bf79662bc85e

Debian advisories