Linux Kernel Vulnerability in Ethtool Functionality

CVE-2026-63986

What is CVE-2026-63986?

A vulnerability in the Linux kernel affects the ethtool functionality, where an improper error handling mechanism allows the potential for application crashes. The issue arises when the ethnl_tsinfo_prepare_dump() function fails and erroneously passes an error pointer to the genlmsg_cancel() function, which requires a valid message to cancel. This flaw could lead to system instability and negatively impact network operations by crashing the application unexpectedly.

References