In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: ethernet: mtk_eth_soc: allocate dummy netdev sooner The RX rings and the… (CVE-2026-98796)

The Linux kernel's mtk_eth_soc driver had a race condition where the RX rings and shared NAPI were associated with a dummy net device allocated too late during initialization. This allowed network devices to be brought up before the dummy device and shared NAPI existed, leading to null pointer dereferences in mtk_rx_alloc() and mtk_open(), causing warnings and open failures (-ENODEV). The fix moves dummy net device allocation and shared NAPI addition before registering MAC net devices, and improves error handling to unregister devices and cancel pending work properly on failure.

The vulnerability could cause kernel warnings and failures to open network interfaces due to null pointer dereferences during device initialization. This may disrupt network interface availability and stability on affected MediaTek SoCs. There is no indication of remote code execution or privilege escalation from the provided data.

A fix has been implemented that changes the initialization order to allocate the dummy net device and add the shared NAPI before registering MAC net devices. Users should apply the updated Linux kernel version containing this fix. No additional mitigation steps are indicated.