{"id":"CVE-2026-99183","kind":"vulnerability","aliases":["CVE-2026-99183"],"related":[],"title":"Linux kernel: Rocket NPU driver null pointer dereference when unbinding a core","description":"In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\naccel/rocket: search every core slot when looking up a scheduler\n\nsched_to_core() walks rdev->cores[] up to rdev->num_cores, and\nrocket_remove() decrements num_cores for every core it removes. Unbind a\ncore that is not the last one and the cores behind it fall outside the\nsearch, so sched_to_core() returns NULL for a core that is still bound and\nstill running jobs. Neither caller checks the result:\n\n  rocket_job_run():      rocket_fence_create(core), core->dev\n  rocket_job_timedout(): dev_err(core->dev, \"NPU job timed out\")\n\nUnbinding the middle core of the three on an RK3588 while three clients are\nsubmitting to all of them faults twice, once from the surviving core's\njob queue and once from its reset work:\n\n  KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000220-0x0000000000000227]\n  Workqueue: fdad0000.npu drm_sched_run_job_work [gpu_sched]\n  pc : rocket_job_run+0x234/0x838 [rocket]\n  Call trace:\n   rocket_job_run+0x234/0x838 [rocket]\n   drm_sched_run_job_work+0x2cc/0xad8 [gpu_sched]\n   process_one_work+0x640/0x14f0\n\n  KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000000-0x0000000000000007]\n  Workqueue: rocket-reset-2 drm_sched_job_timedout [gpu_sched]\n  pc : rocket_job_timedout+0xf0/0x1e0 [rocket]\n  Call trace:\n   rocket_job_timedout+0xf0/0x1e0 [rocket]\n   drm_sched_job_timedout+0x188/0x6a0 [gpu_sched]\n\nBoth are the third core: the workqueue names are its device and its\ncore->index, and it was left at slot 2 while num_cores had dropped to 2.\n\nSearch all the slots that were allocated, the way find_core_for_dev() now\ndoes. A core that is still bound is then found, and the two callers get\nthe pointer they already assume they have.\n\nThis does not make unbinding one core out of several safe. An open client\nkeeps an entity pointing at the scheduler of the core that went away:\ndrm_sched reports it as not ready for every job that lands on it, and the\nclient waits in dma_fence_default_wait for a fence that will never signal.\nStopping the NULL dereference is what belongs in a fix; the rest wants\nmore thought.","summary":"In the Linux accel/rocket driver for the RK3588 NPU, unbinding a core that is not the last one leaves a still-bound core outside the scheduler lookup range, so the kernel dereferences a NULL pointer while running jobs. The sources describe a kernel crash (denial of service) rather than code execution or data theft.","severity":"unknown","cvss":null,"epss":null,"exploited":false,"exploited_at":null,"products":[],"ecosystems":[],"tags":["arm64","embedded","linux-kernel","rk3588","runtime"],"not_affected_if":["no-rocket-driver","non-rk3588-hardware"],"how_to_check":"- unknown","fix":"- unknown: the sources do not name a fixed kernel version or commit; check the upstream stable kernel tree for the accel/rocket commit that changes sched_to_core() to search all allocated core slots.","status":"open","published_at":"2026-10-28T11:17:39+00:00","first_seen_at":"2026-10-28T11:32:36+00:00","triaged_at":"2026-10-28T11:35:19+00:00","updated_at":"2026-10-28T11:35:19+00:00","category":"runtime","confidence":0.6,"triage":{"at":"2026-10-28T11:35:19Z","model":"claude-haiku-5-5","output":{"fix":"- unknown: the sources do not name a fixed kernel version or commit; check the upstream stable kernel tree for the accel/rocket commit that changes sched_to_core() to search all allocated core slots.","reach":"local","title":"Linux kernel: Rocket NPU driver null pointer dereference when unbinding a core","impact":"low","summary":"In the Linux accel/rocket driver for the RK3588 NPU, unbinding a core that is not the last one leaves a still-bound core outside the scheduler lookup range, so the kernel dereferences a NULL pointer while running jobs. The sources describe a kernel crash (denial of service) rather than code execution or data theft.","category":"runtime","nicknames":[],"who_cares":["linux-kernel","rk3588","embedded","arm64"],"confidence":0.6,"needs_auth":"unknown","worst_case":"Kernel NULL dereference crashes the system during NPU job processing","analyst_note":"Find the upstream fix commit and the affected/fixed kernel versions from the linux-kernel stable tree or the NVD entry, and confirm who can trigger the core unbind.","how_to_check":"- unknown","needs_analyst":true,"not_affected_if":["no-rocket-driver","non-rk3588-hardware"],"who_is_affected":"Systems running a Linux kernel with the accel/rocket NPU driver on Rockchip RK3588 boards where cores are unbound while jobs are submitted, typically device-tree based embedded or SBC setups. Systems without the rocket driver or without an RK3588 NPU are not affected. The sources do not say how an unprivileged user could trigger the unbind.","user_interaction":"no","needs_special_setup":"yes","severity_if_unknown":"unknown"},"cost_usd":0.000709,"input_tokens":4062,"output_tokens":605,"severity_before":"unknown"},"analyst_status":null,"analyst_note":null,"search":"'+0':241C,249C,257C,264C,291C,299C,306C '-2026':14A,17A '-99183':15A,18A '0x0000000000000000':274C '0x0000000000000000-0x0000000000000007':273C '0x0000000000000007':275C '0x0000000000000220':226C '0x0000000000000220-0x0000000000000227':225C '0x0000000000000227':227C '2':280C,331C,338C 'accel/rocket':29B,91C 'alloc':345C 'alreadi':371C 'arm64':19B 'assum':372C 'away':401C 'behind':135C 'belong':438C 'bound':48B,153C,359C 'call':244C,294C 'caller':159C,366C 'check':160C 'client':195C,388C,418C 'code':76B 'core':12A,37B,49B,94C,103C,106C,111C,117C,120C,125C,134C,144C,149C,169C,170C,177C,186C,208C,314C,323C,334C,349C,355C,381C,398C 'crash':70B 'creat':168C 'cve':13A,16A 'data':79B 'decrement':115C 'default':423C 'denial':71B 'deref':222C,270C 'derefer':8A,58B,435C 'describ':67B 'dev':171C,175C,178C,351C 'devic':320C 'dma':421C 'driver':5A,30B 'drm':230C,252C,281C,302C,402C 'drop':336C 'embed':20B 'entiti':391C 'err':176C 'everi':93C,119C,410C 'execut':77B 'fall':137C 'fault':202C 'fdad0000.npu':229C 'fenc':167C,422C,427C 'find':348C 'fix':441C 'follow':86C 'found':362C 'get':367C 'gpu':235C,259C,285C,308C 'index':324C 'job':64B,157C,164C,173C,180C,210C,233C,239C,247C,255C,283C,289C,297C,304C,411C 'kasan':218C,266C 'keep':389C 'kernel':2A,23B,57B,69B,84C 'land':413C 'last':42B,130C 'leav':44B 'left':328C 'linux':1A,22B,28B,83C 'linux-kernel':21B 'look':97C 'lookup':53B 'make':378C 'middl':185C 'name':317C 'neither':158C 'never':430C 'npu':4A,34B,179C 'null':6A,60B,146C,220C,268C,434C 'null-ptr-deref':219C,267C 'num':110C,116C,333C 'one':43B,131C,262C,380C 'open':387C 'outsid':50B,138C 'pc':237C,287C 'point':392C 'pointer':7A,61B,369C 'process':261C 'ptr':221C,269C 'queue':211C 'rang':54B,224C,272C 'rather':74B 'rdev':105C,109C 'readi':408C 'remov':114C,122C 'report':404C 'reset':216C,279C 'resolv':90C 'rest':443C 'result':162C 'return':145C 'rk3588':24B,33B,192C 'rocket':3A,113C,163C,166C,172C,238C,243C,246C,251C,278C,288C,293C,296C,301C 'rocket-reset':277C 'run':63B,156C,165C,232C,240C,248C,254C 'runtim':25B 'safe':385C 'sched':101C,142C,231C,236C,253C,260C,282C,286C,303C,309C,403C 'schedul':52B,100C,395C 'search':92C,140C,339C 'servic':73B 'sever':384C 'signal':431C 'slot':95C,330C,342C 'sourc':66B 'still':47B,152C,155C,358C 'still-bound':46B 'stop':432C 'submit':197C 'surviv':207C 'theft':80B 'third':313C 'thought':446C 'three':189C,194C 'time':181C 'timedout':174C,284C,290C,298C,305C 'trace':245C,295C 'twice':203C 'two':365C 'unbind':10A,35B,123C,183C,379C 'vulner':87C 'wait':419C,424C 'walk':104C 'want':444C 'way':347C 'went':400C 'work':217C,234C,256C,263C 'workqueu':228C,276C,316C 'x188/0x6a0':307C 'x234/0x838':242C,250C 'x2cc/0xad8':258C 'x640/0x14f0':265C 'xf0/0x1e0':292C,300C","nicknames":[],"mitigations":[],"who_affected":"Systems running a Linux kernel with the accel/rocket NPU driver on Rockchip RK3588 boards where cores are unbound while jobs are submitted, typically device-tree based embedded or SBC setups. Systems without the rocket driver or without an RK3588 NPU are not affected. The sources do not say how an unprivileged user could trigger the unbind.","tier":"C","verified":{},"analyst_revisit_at":null,"first_public_at":"2026-10-28T11:17:39+00:00","kev":null,"cvss_vector":null,"cvss_by":null,"poc_count":0,"sources":[{"source":"nvd","external_id":"CVE-2026-99183","url":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-99183","severity":null,"published_at":"2026-10-28T11:17:39+00:00","modified_at":"2026-10-28T11:17:39+00:00","first_seen_at":"2026-10-28T11:32:36+00:00","fetched_at":"2026-10-28T11:32:36+00:00","note":null}],"documents":[],"notice":"Free to read at a human pace. An API with keys and an MCP server are in preparation; early access: hello@infrastack.ai"}