VulnerabilityPublished 23 Oct 2026

CVE-2026-98922: Linux kernel · net: emac: move setting of netops to fix crash

Source GCVE Database

Authoritative record:CVE-2026-98922

Not known to be exploited : upgrade to c664cca8f622e66bea6a94279ae2611f1d1c0c67 or 7c9f391ec89cb621d7af375ace2eb9a6248e5b9d when convenient.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 14:05 UTC

Severity

Medium

Rated by Threat Radar · CVSS not yet scored by NVD

EPSS: 0.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 4% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in c664cca8f622e66bea6a94279ae2611f1d1c0c67, 7c9f391ec89cb621d7af375ace2eb9a6248e5b9d

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 23 Oct 2026
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 26 Oct 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

ghsa-x8q8-qwc9-fpg3

What to do

Upgrade Linux kernel to c664cca8f622e66bea6a94279ae2611f1d1c0c67 or 7c9f391ec89cb621d7af375ace2eb9a6248e5b9d.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
LinuxLinux	Affected ≥ ded86da4bbb78cad74cecc368fee3ae3a296e2ca, < c664cca8f622e66bea6a94279ae2611f1d1c0c67	Fixed in c664cca8f622e66bea6a94279ae2611f1d1c0c67
LinuxLinux	Affected ≥ ded86da4bbb78cad74cecc368fee3ae3a296e2ca, < 7c9f391ec89cb621d7af375ace2eb9a6248e5b9d	Fixed in 7c9f391ec89cb621d7af375ace2eb9a6248e5b9d
LinuxLinux	Affected =7.2	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

A fix is available that moves the setting of netdev_ops earlier in the emac driver initialization to prevent the crash. Users should update to a Linux kernel version that includes this patch. Since this is a kernel-level fix, applying the official kernel update or patch is the recommended remediation.

Description

A vulnerability in the Linux kernel's emac network driver caused a kernel crash due to a NULL pointer dereference during driver initialization. The issue was triggered because netdev_ops were not set before calling of_phy_connect(), leading to a crash on certain PowerPC platforms. The fix involved moving the setting of netdev_ops earlier in the initialization sequence to prevent the crash. This bug appeared starting with kernel version 7.3-rc1 and was resolved by adjusting the initialization order in the emac driver code.

References

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