BUG: unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference in syslog_print

Status: moderation: reported on 2026/10/01 14:06
Subsystems: arm
Labels: prio:high
[Documentation on labels]
Reported-by: syzbot+0480e09e0c17d3707c4b@syzkaller.appspotmail.com
First crash: 4d01h, last: 4d01h
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ID Workflow Result Correct Bug Created Started Finished Revision
ca024cf1 assessment-security DenialOfService: ✅ Exploitable: ✅ FilesystemTrigger: ❌ NetworkTrigger: ❌ PeripheralTrigger: ❌ RemoteTrigger: ❌ Unprivileged: ✅ UserNamespace: ✅ VMGuestTrigger: ❌ VMHostTrigger: ❌ ❓ BUG: unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference in syslog_print 2026/09/29 03:31 2026/09/29 03:31 2026/09/29 04:42 58f15308

Sample crash report:
Unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at virtual address 0000000000000018
Mem abort info:
  ESR = 0x0000000096000004
  EC = 0x25: DABT (current EL), IL = 32 bits
  SET = 0, FnV = 0
  EA = 0, S1PTW = 0
  FSC = 0x04: level 0 translation fault
Data abort info:
  ISV = 0, ISS = 0x00000004, ISS2 = 0x00000000
  CM = 0, WnR = 0, TnD = 0, TagAccess = 0
  GCS = 0, Overlay = 0, DirtyBit = 0
user pgtable: 4k pages, 48-bit VAs, pgdp=00000001125eb000
[0000000000000018] pgd=0000000000000000, p4d=0000000000000000
Internal error: Oops: 0000000096000004 [#1]  SMP
Modules linked in:
CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 4329 Comm: klogd Not tainted syzkaller #0 PREEMPT 
Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 08/14/2026
pstate: 83400005 (Nzcv daif +PAN -UAO +TCO +DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--)
pc : alloc_from_pcs mm/slub.c:4849 [inline]
pc : slab_alloc_node mm/slub.c:4984 [inline]
pc : __kmalloc_cache_noprof+0x188/0x5fc mm/slub.c:5559
lr : alloc_from_pcs mm/slub.c:4847 [inline]
lr : slab_alloc_node mm/slub.c:4984 [inline]
lr : __kmalloc_cache_noprof+0x170/0x5fc mm/slub.c:5559
sp : ffff800096e37920
x29: ffff800096e37960 x28: ffff800088a5a960 x27: ffff0000d2813b00
x26: ffff800088a10001 x25: 0000000000000001 x24: 0000000000000000
x23: ffff800088a58000 x22: ffff800080484060 x21: ffff0000c0002000
x20: 0000000000000800 x19: 0000000000000cc0 x18: 0000000000000000
x17: 0000000000000000 x16: 0000000000000000 x15: 0000000000000000
x14: 0000000000a5f80a x13: 0000000000000000 x12: ffff800080021608
x11: 00000000dedb01f9 x10: 0000000000000003 x9 : 0000000000000000
x8 : 0000000000000000 x7 : 0000000000000000 x6 : 0000000000000000
x5 : 0000000000000030 x4 : 0000000000000008 x3 : ffff8000801515e8
x2 : 0000000000000000 x1 : ffff0001aded8001 x0 : 0000000000000000
dump_backtrace(regs = 00000000d891b98e tsk = 0000000000000000)
Call trace:
 alloc_from_pcs mm/slub.c:4849 [inline] (P)
 slab_alloc_node mm/slub.c:4984 [inline] (P)
 __kmalloc_cache_noprof+0x188/0x5fc mm/slub.c:5559 (P)
 _kmalloc_noprof include/linux/slab.h:991 [inline]
 syslog_print+0x114/0x670 kernel/printk/printk.c:1585
 do_syslog+0x24c/0x5b4 kernel/printk/printk.c:1763
 __do_sys_syslog kernel/printk/printk.c:1855 [inline]
 __se_sys_syslog kernel/printk/printk.c:1853 [inline]
 __arm64_sys_syslog+0x88/0xa0 kernel/printk/printk.c:1853
 __invoke_syscall arch/arm64/kernel/syscall.c:35 [inline]
 invoke_syscall+0x98/0x244 arch/arm64/kernel/syscall.c:49
 el0_svc_common+0xec/0x23c arch/arm64/kernel/syscall.c:121
 do_el0_svc+0x4c/0x5c arch/arm64/kernel/syscall.c:140
 el0_svc+0x60/0x1d8 arch/arm64/kernel/entry-common.c:796
 el0t_64_sync_handler+0x44/0x104 arch/arm64/kernel/entry-common.c:815
 el0t_64_sync+0x198/0x19c arch/arm64/kernel/entry.S:606
Code: 540019e2 f8787b88 8b1a0101 f9401c28 (b9401909) 
---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]---
----------------
Code disassembly (best guess):
   0:	540019e2 	b.cs	0x33c  // b.hs, b.nlast
   4:	f8787b88 	ldr	x8, [x28, x24, lsl #3]
   8:	8b1a0101 	add	x1, x8, x26
   c:	f9401c28 	ldr	x8, [x1, #56]
* 10:	b9401909 	ldr	w9, [x8, #24] <-- trapping instruction

Crashes (1):
Time Kernel Commit Syzkaller Config Log Report Syz repro C repro VM info Assets (help?) Manager Title
2026/09/27 14:00 git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/arm64/linux.git for-kernelci e8e60d3ddd25 a3c7249d .config console log report info [disk image] [vmlinux] [kernel image] ci-upstream-gce-arm64 BUG: unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference in syslog_print
* Struck through repros no longer work on HEAD.