{"id":"AZL-88490","summary":"CVE-2026-45842 affecting package kernel for versions less than 6.6.141.1-1","details":"In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nslip: reject VJ receive packets on instances with no rstate array\n\nslhc_init() accepts rslots == 0 as a valid configuration, with the\ndocumented meaning of 'no receive compression'. In that case the\nallocation loop in slhc_init() is skipped, so comp-\u003erstate stays\nNULL and comp-\u003erslot_limit stays 0 (from the kzalloc of struct\nslcompress).\n\nThe receive helpers do not defend against that configuration.\nslhc_uncompress() dereferences comp-\u003erstate[x] when the VJ header\ncarries an explicit connection ID, and slhc_remember() later assigns\ncs = &comp-\u003erstate[...] after only comparing the packet's slot number\nto comp-\u003erslot_limit. Because rslot_limit is 0, slot 0 passes the\nrange check, and the code dereferences a NULL rstate.\n\nThe configuration is reachable in-tree through PPP. PPPIOCSMAXCID\nstores its argument in a signed int, and (val \u003e\u003e 16) uses arithmetic\nshift. Passing 0xffff0000 therefore sign-extends to -1, so val2 + 1\nis 0 and ppp_generic.c ends up calling slhc_init(0, 1). Because\n/dev/ppp open is gated by ns_capable(CAP_NET_ADMIN), the whole path\nis reachable from an unprivileged user namespace. Once the malformed\nVJ state is installed, any inbound VJ-compressed or VJ-uncompressed\nframe that selects slot 0 crashes the kernel in softirq context:\n\n Oops: general protection fault, probably for non-canonical\n       address 0xdffffc0000000000: 0000 [#1] SMP KASAN NOPTI\n KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000000-0x0000000000000007]\n RIP: 0010:slhc_uncompress (drivers/net/slip/slhc.c:519)\n Call Trace:\n  \u003cTASK\u003e\n  ppp_receive_nonmp_frame (drivers/net/ppp/ppp_generic.c:2466)\n  ppp_input (drivers/net/ppp/ppp_generic.c:2359)\n  ppp_async_process (drivers/net/ppp/ppp_async.c:492)\n  tasklet_action_common (kernel/softirq.c:926)\n  handle_softirqs (kernel/softirq.c:623)\n  run_ksoftirqd (kernel/softirq.c:1055)\n  smpboot_thread_fn (kernel/smpboot.c:160)\n  kthread (kernel/kthread.c:436)\n  ret_from_fork (arch/x86/kernel/process.c:164)\n  \u003c/TASK\u003e\n\nReject the receive side on such instances instead of touching rstate.\nslhc_uncompress() falls through to its existing 'bad' label, which\nbumps sls_i_error and enters the toss state. slhc_remember() mirrors\nthat with an explicit sls_i_error increment followed by slhc_toss();\nthe sls_i_runt counter is not used here because a missing rstate is\nan internal configuration state, not a runt packet.\n\nThe transmit path is unaffected: the only in-tree caller that picks\nrslots from userspace (ppp_generic.c) still supplies tslots \u003e= 1, and\nslip.c always calls slhc_init(16, 16), so comp-\u003etstate remains valid\nand slhc_compress() continues to work.","modified":"2026-08-28T17:48:05.272635063Z","published":"2026-05-27T11:16:23Z","upstream":["CVE-2026-45842"],"references":[{"type":"WEB","url":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-45842"}],"affected":[{"package":{"name":"kernel","ecosystem":"Azure Linux:3","purl":"pkg:rpm/azure-linux/kernel"},"ranges":[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"0"},{"fixed":"6.6.141.1-1"}]}],"database_specific":{"source":"https://github.com/microsoft/AzureLinuxVulnerabilityData/blob/main/osv/AZL-88490.json"}}],"schema_version":"1.9.0"}