| CVE |
Vendors |
Products |
Updated |
CVSS v3.1 |
| In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
HID: pidff: Fix null pointer dereference in pidff_find_fields
This function triggered a null pointer dereference if used to search for
a report that isn't implemented on the device. This happened both for
optional and required reports alike.
The same logic was applied to pidff_find_special_field and although
pidff_init_fields should return an error earlier if one of the required
reports is missing, future modifications could change this logic and
resurface this possible null pointer dereference again.
LKML bug report:
https://lore.kernel.org/all/CAL-gK7f5=R0nrrQdPtaZZr1fd-cdAMbDMuZ_NLA8vM0SX+nGSw@mail.gmail.com |
| In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
cifs: avoid NULL pointer dereference in dbg call
cifs_server_dbg() implies server to be non-NULL so
move call under condition to avoid NULL pointer dereference.
Found by Linux Verification Center (linuxtesting.org) with SVACE. |
| In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
cpufreq: scmi: Fix null-ptr-deref in scmi_cpufreq_get_rate()
cpufreq_cpu_get_raw() can return NULL when the target CPU is not present
in the policy->cpus mask. scmi_cpufreq_get_rate() does not check for
this case, which results in a NULL pointer dereference.
Add NULL check after cpufreq_cpu_get_raw() to prevent this issue. |
| In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
cpufreq: scpi: Fix null-ptr-deref in scpi_cpufreq_get_rate()
cpufreq_cpu_get_raw() can return NULL when the target CPU is not present
in the policy->cpus mask. scpi_cpufreq_get_rate() does not check for
this case, which results in a NULL pointer dereference. |
| In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
tipc: fix NULL pointer dereference in tipc_mon_reinit_self()
syzbot reported:
tipc: Node number set to 1055423674
Oops: general protection fault, probably for non-canonical address 0xdffffc0000000000: 0000 [#1] SMP KASAN NOPTI
KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000000-0x0000000000000007]
CPU: 3 UID: 0 PID: 6017 Comm: kworker/3:5 Not tainted 6.15.0-rc1-syzkaller-00246-g900241a5cc15 #0 PREEMPT(full)
Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS 1.16.3-debian-1.16.3-2~bpo12+1 04/01/2014
Workqueue: events tipc_net_finalize_work
RIP: 0010:tipc_mon_reinit_self+0x11c/0x210 net/tipc/monitor.c:719
...
RSP: 0018:ffffc9000356fb68 EFLAGS: 00010246
RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: 0000000000000000 RCX: 000000003ee87cba
RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: ffffffff8dbc56a7 RDI: ffff88804c2cc010
RBP: dffffc0000000000 R08: 0000000000000001 R09: 0000000000000000
R10: 0000000000000001 R11: 0000000000000000 R12: 0000000000000007
R13: fffffbfff2111097 R14: ffff88804ead8000 R15: ffff88804ead9010
FS: 0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff888097ab9000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
CR2: 00000000f720eb00 CR3: 000000000e182000 CR4: 0000000000352ef0
DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000
DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400
Call Trace:
<TASK>
tipc_net_finalize+0x10b/0x180 net/tipc/net.c:140
process_one_work+0x9cc/0x1b70 kernel/workqueue.c:3238
process_scheduled_works kernel/workqueue.c:3319 [inline]
worker_thread+0x6c8/0xf10 kernel/workqueue.c:3400
kthread+0x3c2/0x780 kernel/kthread.c:464
ret_from_fork+0x45/0x80 arch/x86/kernel/process.c:153
ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30 arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:245
</TASK>
...
RIP: 0010:tipc_mon_reinit_self+0x11c/0x210 net/tipc/monitor.c:719
...
RSP: 0018:ffffc9000356fb68 EFLAGS: 00010246
RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: 0000000000000000 RCX: 000000003ee87cba
RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: ffffffff8dbc56a7 RDI: ffff88804c2cc010
RBP: dffffc0000000000 R08: 0000000000000001 R09: 0000000000000000
R10: 0000000000000001 R11: 0000000000000000 R12: 0000000000000007
R13: fffffbfff2111097 R14: ffff88804ead8000 R15: ffff88804ead9010
FS: 0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff888097ab9000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
CR2: 00000000f720eb00 CR3: 000000000e182000 CR4: 0000000000352ef0
DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000
DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400
There is a racing condition between workqueue created when enabling
bearer and another thread created when disabling bearer right after
that as follow:
enabling_bearer | disabling_bearer
--------------- | ----------------
tipc_disc_timeout() |
{ | bearer_disable()
... | {
schedule_work(&tn->work); | tipc_mon_delete()
... | {
} | ...
| write_lock_bh(&mon->lock);
| mon->self = NULL;
| write_unlock_bh(&mon->lock);
| ...
| }
tipc_net_finalize_work() | }
{ |
... |
tipc_net_finalize() |
{ |
... |
tipc_mon_reinit_self() |
{ |
... |
write_lock_bh(&mon->lock); |
mon->self->addr = tipc_own_addr(net); |
write_unlock_bh(&mon->lock); |
...
---truncated--- |
| In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
usb: chipidea: ci_hdrc_imx: fix usbmisc handling
usbmisc is an optional device property so it is totally valid for the
corresponding data->usbmisc_data to have a NULL value.
Check that before dereferencing the pointer.
Found by Linux Verification Center (linuxtesting.org) with Svace static
analysis tool. |
| In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
usb: typec: class: Fix NULL pointer access
Concurrent calls to typec_partner_unlink_device can lead to a NULL pointer
dereference. This patch adds a mutex to protect USB device pointers and
prevent this issue. The same mutex protects both the device pointers and
the partner device registration. |
| In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
wifi: mac80211: Purge vif txq in ieee80211_do_stop()
After ieee80211_do_stop() SKB from vif's txq could still be processed.
Indeed another concurrent vif schedule_and_wake_txq call could cause
those packets to be dequeued (see ieee80211_handle_wake_tx_queue())
without checking the sdata current state.
Because vif.drv_priv is now cleared in this function, this could lead to
driver crash.
For example in ath12k, ahvif is store in vif.drv_priv. Thus if
ath12k_mac_op_tx() is called after ieee80211_do_stop(), ahvif->ah can be
NULL, leading the ath12k_warn(ahvif->ah,...) call in this function to
trigger the NULL deref below.
Unable to handle kernel paging request at virtual address dfffffc000000001
KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000008-0x000000000000000f]
batman_adv: bat0: Interface deactivated: brbh1337
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, Xs = 0
[dfffffc000000001] address between user and kernel address ranges
Internal error: Oops: 0000000096000004 [#1] SMP
CPU: 1 UID: 0 PID: 978 Comm: lbd Not tainted 6.13.0-g633f875b8f1e #114
Hardware name: HW (DT)
pstate: 10000005 (nzcV daif -PAN -UAO -TCO -DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--)
pc : ath12k_mac_op_tx+0x6cc/0x29b8 [ath12k]
lr : ath12k_mac_op_tx+0x174/0x29b8 [ath12k]
sp : ffffffc086ace450
x29: ffffffc086ace450 x28: 0000000000000000 x27: 1ffffff810d59ca4
x26: ffffff801d05f7c0 x25: 0000000000000000 x24: 000000004000001e
x23: ffffff8009ce4926 x22: ffffff801f9c0800 x21: ffffff801d05f7f0
x20: ffffff8034a19f40 x19: 0000000000000000 x18: ffffff801f9c0958
x17: ffffff800bc0a504 x16: dfffffc000000000 x15: ffffffc086ace4f8
x14: ffffff801d05f83c x13: 0000000000000000 x12: ffffffb003a0bf03
x11: 0000000000000000 x10: ffffffb003a0bf02 x9 : ffffff8034a19f40
x8 : ffffff801d05f818 x7 : 1ffffff0069433dc x6 : ffffff8034a19ee0
x5 : ffffff801d05f7f0 x4 : 0000000000000000 x3 : 0000000000000001
x2 : 0000000000000000 x1 : dfffffc000000000 x0 : 0000000000000008
Call trace:
ath12k_mac_op_tx+0x6cc/0x29b8 [ath12k] (P)
ieee80211_handle_wake_tx_queue+0x16c/0x260
ieee80211_queue_skb+0xeec/0x1d20
ieee80211_tx+0x200/0x2c8
ieee80211_xmit+0x22c/0x338
__ieee80211_subif_start_xmit+0x7e8/0xc60
ieee80211_subif_start_xmit+0xc4/0xee0
__ieee80211_subif_start_xmit_8023.isra.0+0x854/0x17a0
ieee80211_subif_start_xmit_8023+0x124/0x488
dev_hard_start_xmit+0x160/0x5a8
__dev_queue_xmit+0x6f8/0x3120
br_dev_queue_push_xmit+0x120/0x4a8
__br_forward+0xe4/0x2b0
deliver_clone+0x5c/0xd0
br_flood+0x398/0x580
br_dev_xmit+0x454/0x9f8
dev_hard_start_xmit+0x160/0x5a8
__dev_queue_xmit+0x6f8/0x3120
ip6_finish_output2+0xc28/0x1b60
__ip6_finish_output+0x38c/0x638
ip6_output+0x1b4/0x338
ip6_local_out+0x7c/0xa8
ip6_send_skb+0x7c/0x1b0
ip6_push_pending_frames+0x94/0xd0
rawv6_sendmsg+0x1a98/0x2898
inet_sendmsg+0x94/0xe0
__sys_sendto+0x1e4/0x308
__arm64_sys_sendto+0xc4/0x140
do_el0_svc+0x110/0x280
el0_svc+0x20/0x60
el0t_64_sync_handler+0x104/0x138
el0t_64_sync+0x154/0x158
To avoid that, empty vif's txq at ieee80211_do_stop() so no packet could
be dequeued after ieee80211_do_stop() (new packets cannot be queued
because SDATA_STATE_RUNNING is cleared at this point). |
| In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
ASoC: Intel: avs: Fix null-ptr-deref in avs_component_probe()
devm_kasprintf() returns NULL when memory allocation fails. Currently,
avs_component_probe() does not check for this case, which results in a
NULL pointer dereference. |
| In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
Bluetooth: btrtl: Prevent potential NULL dereference
The btrtl_initialize() function checks that rtl_load_file() either
had an error or it loaded a zero length file. However, if it loaded
a zero length file then the error code is not set correctly. It
results in an error pointer vs NULL bug, followed by a NULL pointer
dereference. This was detected by Smatch:
drivers/bluetooth/btrtl.c:592 btrtl_initialize() warn: passing zero to 'ERR_PTR' |
| In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
i3c: Add NULL pointer check in i3c_master_queue_ibi()
The I3C master driver may receive an IBI from a target device that has not
been probed yet. In such cases, the master calls `i3c_master_queue_ibi()`
to queue an IBI work task, leading to "Unable to handle kernel read from
unreadable memory" and resulting in a kernel panic.
Typical IBI handling flow:
1. The I3C master scans target devices and probes their respective drivers.
2. The target device driver calls `i3c_device_request_ibi()` to enable IBI
and assigns `dev->ibi = ibi`.
3. The I3C master receives an IBI from the target device and calls
`i3c_master_queue_ibi()` to queue the target device driver’s IBI
handler task.
However, since target device events are asynchronous to the I3C probe
sequence, step 3 may occur before step 2, causing `dev->ibi` to be `NULL`,
leading to a kernel panic.
Add a NULL pointer check in `i3c_master_queue_ibi()` to prevent accessing
an uninitialized `dev->ibi`, ensuring stability. |
| In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
net: Fix null-ptr-deref by sock_lock_init_class_and_name() and rmmod.
When I ran the repro [0] and waited a few seconds, I observed two
LOCKDEP splats: a warning immediately followed by a null-ptr-deref. [1]
Reproduction Steps:
1) Mount CIFS
2) Add an iptables rule to drop incoming FIN packets for CIFS
3) Unmount CIFS
4) Unload the CIFS module
5) Remove the iptables rule
At step 3), the CIFS module calls sock_release() for the underlying
TCP socket, and it returns quickly. However, the socket remains in
FIN_WAIT_1 because incoming FIN packets are dropped.
At this point, the module's refcnt is 0 while the socket is still
alive, so the following rmmod command succeeds.
# ss -tan
State Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address:Port Peer Address:Port
FIN-WAIT-1 0 477 10.0.2.15:51062 10.0.0.137:445
# lsmod | grep cifs
cifs 1159168 0
This highlights a discrepancy between the lifetime of the CIFS module
and the underlying TCP socket. Even after CIFS calls sock_release()
and it returns, the TCP socket does not die immediately in order to
close the connection gracefully.
While this is generally fine, it causes an issue with LOCKDEP because
CIFS assigns a different lock class to the TCP socket's sk->sk_lock
using sock_lock_init_class_and_name().
Once an incoming packet is processed for the socket or a timer fires,
sk->sk_lock is acquired.
Then, LOCKDEP checks the lock context in check_wait_context(), where
hlock_class() is called to retrieve the lock class. However, since
the module has already been unloaded, hlock_class() logs a warning
and returns NULL, triggering the null-ptr-deref.
If LOCKDEP is enabled, we must ensure that a module calling
sock_lock_init_class_and_name() (CIFS, NFS, etc) cannot be unloaded
while such a socket is still alive to prevent this issue.
Let's hold the module reference in sock_lock_init_class_and_name()
and release it when the socket is freed in sk_prot_free().
Note that sock_lock_init() clears sk->sk_owner for svc_create_socket()
that calls sock_lock_init_class_and_name() for a listening socket,
which clones a socket by sk_clone_lock() without GFP_ZERO.
[0]:
CIFS_SERVER="10.0.0.137"
CIFS_PATH="//${CIFS_SERVER}/Users/Administrator/Desktop/CIFS_TEST"
DEV="enp0s3"
CRED="/root/WindowsCredential.txt"
MNT=$(mktemp -d /tmp/XXXXXX)
mount -t cifs ${CIFS_PATH} ${MNT} -o vers=3.0,credentials=${CRED},cache=none,echo_interval=1
iptables -A INPUT -s ${CIFS_SERVER} -j DROP
for i in $(seq 10);
do
umount ${MNT}
rmmod cifs
sleep 1
done
rm -r ${MNT}
iptables -D INPUT -s ${CIFS_SERVER} -j DROP
[1]:
DEBUG_LOCKS_WARN_ON(1)
WARNING: CPU: 10 PID: 0 at kernel/locking/lockdep.c:234 hlock_class (kernel/locking/lockdep.c:234 kernel/locking/lockdep.c:223)
Modules linked in: cifs_arc4 nls_ucs2_utils cifs_md4 [last unloaded: cifs]
CPU: 10 UID: 0 PID: 0 Comm: swapper/10 Not tainted 6.14.0 #36
Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS rel-1.16.0-0-gd239552ce722-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014
RIP: 0010:hlock_class (kernel/locking/lockdep.c:234 kernel/locking/lockdep.c:223)
...
Call Trace:
<IRQ>
__lock_acquire (kernel/locking/lockdep.c:4853 kernel/locking/lockdep.c:5178)
lock_acquire (kernel/locking/lockdep.c:469 kernel/locking/lockdep.c:5853 kernel/locking/lockdep.c:5816)
_raw_spin_lock_nested (kernel/locking/spinlock.c:379)
tcp_v4_rcv (./include/linux/skbuff.h:1678 ./include/net/tcp.h:2547 net/ipv4/tcp_ipv4.c:2350)
...
BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 00000000000000c4
PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode
PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present page
PGD 0
Oops: Oops: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP NOPTI
CPU: 10 UID: 0 PID: 0 Comm: swapper/10 Tainted: G W 6.14.0 #36
Tainted: [W]=WARN
Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS rel-1.16.0-0-gd239552ce722-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014
RIP: 0010:__lock_acquire (kernel/
---truncated--- |
| In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
cpufreq/amd-pstate: Add missing NULL ptr check in amd_pstate_update
Check if policy is NULL before dereferencing it in amd_pstate_update. |
| In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
dlm: prevent NPD when writing a positive value to event_done
do_uevent returns the value written to event_done. In case it is a
positive value, new_lockspace would undo all the work, and lockspace
would not be set. __dlm_new_lockspace, however, would treat that
positive value as a success due to commit 8511a2728ab8 ("dlm: fix use
count with multiple joins").
Down the line, device_create_lockspace would pass that NULL lockspace to
dlm_find_lockspace_local, leading to a NULL pointer dereference.
Treating such positive values as successes prevents the problem. Given
this has been broken for so long, this is unlikely to break userspace
expectations. |
| In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
usbnet:fix NPE during rx_complete
Missing usbnet_going_away Check in Critical Path.
The usb_submit_urb function lacks a usbnet_going_away
validation, whereas __usbnet_queue_skb includes this check.
This inconsistency creates a race condition where:
A URB request may succeed, but the corresponding SKB data
fails to be queued.
Subsequent processes:
(e.g., rx_complete → defer_bh → __skb_unlink(skb, list))
attempt to access skb->next, triggering a NULL pointer
dereference (Kernel Panic). |
| In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
devlink: fix xa_alloc_cyclic() error handling
In case of returning 1 from xa_alloc_cyclic() (wrapping) ERR_PTR(1) will
be returned, which will cause IS_ERR() to be false. Which can lead to
dereference not allocated pointer (rel).
Fix it by checking if err is lower than zero.
This wasn't found in real usecase, only noticed. Credit to Pierre. |
| In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
dpll: fix xa_alloc_cyclic() error handling
In case of returning 1 from xa_alloc_cyclic() (wrapping) ERR_PTR(1) will
be returned, which will cause IS_ERR() to be false. Which can lead to
dereference not allocated pointer (pin).
Fix it by checking if err is lower than zero.
This wasn't found in real usecase, only noticed. Credit to Pierre. |
| In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
net/mlx5: handle errors in mlx5_chains_create_table()
In mlx5_chains_create_table(), the return value of mlx5_get_fdb_sub_ns()
and mlx5_get_flow_namespace() must be checked to prevent NULL pointer
dereferences. If either function fails, the function should log error
message with mlx5_core_warn() and return error pointer. |
| In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
eth: bnxt: fix kernel panic in the bnxt_get_queue_stats{rx | tx}
When qstats-get operation is executed, callbacks of netdev_stats_ops
are called. The bnxt_get_queue_stats{rx | tx} collect per-queue stats
from sw_stats in the rings.
But {rx | tx | cp}_ring are allocated when the interface is up.
So, these rings are not allocated when the interface is down.
The qstats-get is allowed even if the interface is down. However,
the bnxt_get_queue_stats{rx | tx}() accesses cp_ring and tx_ring
without null check.
So, it needs to avoid accessing rings if the interface is down.
Reproducer:
ip link set $interface down
./cli.py --spec netdev.yaml --dump qstats-get
OR
ip link set $interface down
python ./stats.py
Splat looks like:
BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000000
#PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode
#PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present page
PGD 1680fa067 P4D 1680fa067 PUD 16be3b067 PMD 0
Oops: Oops: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP NOPTI
CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 1495 Comm: python3 Not tainted 6.14.0-rc4+ #32 5cd0f999d5a15c574ac72b3e4b907341
Hardware name: ASUS System Product Name/PRIME Z690-P D4, BIOS 0603 11/01/2021
RIP: 0010:bnxt_get_queue_stats_rx+0xf/0x70 [bnxt_en]
Code: c6 87 b5 18 00 00 02 eb a2 66 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 0f 1f 44 01
RSP: 0018:ffffabef43cdb7e0 EFLAGS: 00010282
RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: ffffffffc04c8710 RCX: 0000000000000000
RDX: ffffabef43cdb858 RSI: 0000000000000000 RDI: ffff8d504e850000
RBP: ffff8d506c9f9c00 R08: 0000000000000004 R09: ffff8d506bcd901c
R10: 0000000000000015 R11: ffff8d506bcd9000 R12: 0000000000000000
R13: ffffabef43cdb8c0 R14: ffff8d504e850000 R15: 0000000000000000
FS: 00007f2c5462b080(0000) GS:ffff8d575f600000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
CR2: 0000000000000000 CR3: 0000000167fd0000 CR4: 00000000007506f0
PKRU: 55555554
Call Trace:
<TASK>
? __die+0x20/0x70
? page_fault_oops+0x15a/0x460
? sched_balance_find_src_group+0x58d/0xd10
? exc_page_fault+0x6e/0x180
? asm_exc_page_fault+0x22/0x30
? bnxt_get_queue_stats_rx+0xf/0x70 [bnxt_en cdd546fd48563c280cfd30e9647efa420db07bf1]
netdev_nl_stats_by_netdev+0x2b1/0x4e0
? xas_load+0x9/0xb0
? xas_find+0x183/0x1d0
? xa_find+0x8b/0xe0
netdev_nl_qstats_get_dumpit+0xbf/0x1e0
genl_dumpit+0x31/0x90
netlink_dump+0x1a8/0x360 |
| In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
net: ethtool: netlink: Allow NULL nlattrs when getting a phy_device
ethnl_req_get_phydev() is used to lookup a phy_device, in the case an
ethtool netlink command targets a specific phydev within a netdev's
topology.
It takes as a parameter a const struct nlattr *header that's used for
error handling :
if (!phydev) {
NL_SET_ERR_MSG_ATTR(extack, header,
"no phy matching phyindex");
return ERR_PTR(-ENODEV);
}
In the notify path after a ->set operation however, there's no request
attributes available.
The typical callsite for the above function looks like:
phydev = ethnl_req_get_phydev(req_base, tb[ETHTOOL_A_XXX_HEADER],
info->extack);
So, when tb is NULL (such as in the ethnl notify path), we have a nice
crash.
It turns out that there's only the PLCA command that is in that case, as
the other phydev-specific commands don't have a notification.
This commit fixes the crash by passing the cmd index and the nlattr
array separately, allowing NULL-checking it directly inside the helper. |
