Enabling synthetic events that reference stacktrace fields caused a null pointer dereference in the kernel's tracing subsystem, resulting in a kernel crash. The failure occurs during the construction of synthetic events that use a stacktrace field mistakenly treated as a normal field, leading to a page fault and kernel panic. This vulnerability is a CWE‑476 type issue and can bring the entire system to a halt when a process triggers the faulting synthetic event.

The issue affects the Linux kernel, specifically the 6.19 release candidate series (rc1 through rc6) and any subsequent stable releases that have not yet integrated the patch. All builds that expose the tracing subsystem via /sys/kernel/tracing and allow manipulation of synthetic events are susceptible until the kernel update containing the fix is deployed.

The vulnerability carries a CVSS base score of 5.5, indicating moderate severity, and an EPSS of < 1%, suggesting a low overall exploitation probability. It is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog. The attack requires local access with the ability to write to the tracing sysfs interface, typically a privileged user; root or sudo privileges are needed to enable or configure synthetic events. Successful exploitation would result in a kernel crash and system reboot, presenting a denial‑of‑service risk rather than privilege escalation.