---
id: CVE-2026-63986
title: "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nethtool: tsinfo: don't pass ERR_PTR to genlmsg_cancel on prepare failure\n\nThe goto err label leads to:\n\n\tgenlmsg_cancel(skb, ehdr);\n\treturn ret;\n\nIf ethnl_tsinfo_prepar…"
summary: "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nethtool: tsinfo: don't pass ERR_PTR to genlmsg_cancel on prepare failure\n\nThe goto err label leads to:\n\n\tgenlmsg_cancel(skb, ehdr);\n\treturn ret;\n\nIf ethnl_tsinfo_prepar…"
severity: medium
cvss: 5.5
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H'
vendor: linux
product: linux_kernel
affected:
  - 'linux_kernel >= 6.14, < 6.18.35'
  - 'linux_kernel >= 6.19, < 7.0.12'
  - linux_kernel = 7.1
patched:
  - linux_kernel 7.0.12
published: '2026-07-19'
updated: '2026-10-07'
sourceUpdated: '2026-10-07T20:50:43.857'
source: NVD
sourceUrl: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-63986'
references:
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2008f9bb1ede9b688624a241228b8e54fc74f0f6'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c3fc9976f686f9a95baf87db9d387f218fd65394'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d0d2c5ccd1de28368cebeef74d9c530a60eff9a5'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
tags:
  - nvd
epss: 0.00166
epssPercentile: 0.05336
ingestedAt: '2026-10-07T21:54:15.079Z'
---

## Overview

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

ethtool: tsinfo: don't pass ERR_PTR to genlmsg_cancel on prepare failure

The goto err label leads to:

	genlmsg_cancel(skb, ehdr);
	return ret;

If ethnl_tsinfo_prepare_dump() failed, it has not started a genlmsg.
There's nothing to cancel, and passing an error pointer to
genlmsg_cancel() would cause a crash.

## Affected

- `linux_kernel >= 6.14, < 6.18.35`
- `linux_kernel >= 6.19, < 7.0.12`
- `linux_kernel = 7.1`

## Remediation

Upgrade past the affected range:

- `linux_kernel 7.0.12`