---
id: CVE-2026-97601
title: |-
  In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

  ieee802154: 6lowpan: fix NULL dereference in lowpan_newlink

  TUNSETLINK allows a TUN device to change its link-layer type to
  ARPHRD_IEEE802154 without initializing ieee…
summary: |-
  In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

  ieee802154: 6lowpan: fix NULL dereference in lowpan_newlink

  TUNSETLINK allows a TUN device to change its link-layer type to
  ARPHRD_IEEE802154 without initializing ieee…
severity: none
vendor: Linux
product: Linux
affected:
  - >-
    Linux >= 51e0e5d8124ece158927a4c2288c0929d3b53aa3 <
    1c7710af7ad9532b534f1c134c11b04dbe4e0e0f
  - >-
    Linux >= 51e0e5d8124ece158927a4c2288c0929d3b53aa3 <
    98ce5a42cde780ee0e40378607d4428c8fc12ec1
  - >-
    Linux >= 51e0e5d8124ece158927a4c2288c0929d3b53aa3 <
    8528da2333ce05cf627f93425f9d05efb08b3146
  - >-
    Linux >= 51e0e5d8124ece158927a4c2288c0929d3b53aa3 <
    bf79662bc85e820ac3b846e2f347da29fbf6ac95
  - Linux 4.3
published: '2026-09-25'
updated: '2026-09-25'
sourceUpdated: '2026-09-25T11:17:11.463'
source: NVD
sourceUrl: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-97601'
references:
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1c7710af7ad9532b534f1c134c11b04dbe4e0e0f'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8528da2333ce05cf627f93425f9d05efb08b3146'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/98ce5a42cde780ee0e40378607d4428c8fc12ec1'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/bf79662bc85e820ac3b846e2f347da29fbf6ac95'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
tags:
  - nvd
  - cve.org
ingestedAt: '2026-09-25T11:06:38.902Z'
---

## Overview

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

ieee802154: 6lowpan: fix NULL dereference in lowpan_newlink

TUNSETLINK allows a TUN device to change its link-layer type to
ARPHRD_IEEE802154 without initializing ieee802154_ptr. lowpan_newlink()
checks only the device type before dereferencing the pointer, so an
RTM_NEWLINK request can trigger a NULL pointer dereference.

Reject devices without ieee802154_ptr along with devices of the wrong type.

## Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.