CVE-2024-26596: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: dsa: fix netdev_priv() dereference before check on non-DSA netdevice events After the

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: dsa: fix netdev_priv() dereference before check on non-DSA netdevice events After the

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: dsa: fix netdev_priv() dereference before check on non-DSA netdevice events After the blamed commit, we started doing this dereference for every NETDEV_CHANGEUPPER and NETDEV_PRECHANGEUPPER event in the system. static inline struct dsa_port *dsa_user_to_port(const struct net_device *dev) { struct dsa_user_priv *p = netdev_priv(dev); return p->dp; } Which is obviously bogus, because not all net_devices have a netdev_priv() of type struct dsa_user_priv. But struct dsa_user_priv is fairly small, and p->dp means dereferencing 8 bytes starting with offset 16. Most drivers allocate that much private memory anyway, making our access not fault, and we discard the bogus data quickly afterwards, so this wasn't caught. But the dummy interface is somewhat special in that it calls alloc_netdev() with a priv size of 0. So every netdev_priv() dereference is invalid, and we get this when we emit a NETDEV_PRECHANGEUPPER event with a VLAN as its new upper: $ ip link add dummy1 type dummy $ ip link add link dummy1 name dummy1.100 type vlan id 100 [ 43.309174] ===========================================================

Description from the National Vulnerability Database, published by 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

What it means for a small business

Linux is on the computers, phones or browsers your team uses every day. Turn on automatic updates and restart: most of these fixes only take effect after a restart.

How likely is an attack? The Exploit Prediction Scoring System, run by FIRST (the global association of security response teams), puts the odds of this one being exploited in the next 30 days at 0.24%, higher than 15% of CVEs. That’s low, but low isn’t zero, and the odds jump the day someone publishes an exploit. Scored October 29, 2026, updated daily.

Check your own setup

Website check: reads what your site runs from the outside (WordPress version, plugins it can see, old server software) and matches it against this database.
Server check: what your web server says about itself, and whether that version has known flaws.

Sources

Part of the Huttenlocher Technologies vulnerability database, refreshed twice a day from CISA and the NVD. The title, category and plain-language guidance are ours; check the linked record before acting on a detail. This is general guidance, not a review of your systems.

Weekly security brief

The flaws that hit local websites, every Friday.

One short email: what got exploited this week, which WordPress plugins broke, and what to check. Unsubscribe in one click.