CVE-2026-97943
UnknownSummary
A vulnerability was found in the Linux kernel's x86 CPA (Change Page Attributes) mechanism. During the collapse of page table entries into huge pages, page tables are freed without holding relevant locks, leading to a potential use-after-free (UAF) when concurrent operations like ptdump walk the page tables.
Risk Assessment
The risk includes potential information disclosure or system crash (kernel panic) due to a race condition, especially in environments using execmem or BPF for executable mappings. A local attacker could exploit this to destabilize the system.
Recommendation
Apply the kernel patch from your Linux distributor that adds the mmap write lock on init_mm during the collapse operation. Update the system to a kernel version containing this fix.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
See all- CVE-2026-98162Unknown
In the Linux kernel, the smb2_tree_connect() function of the SMB server (ksmbd) leaks a tree connection. When ksmbd_iov_pin_rsp() fails, the newly created tree connection is not disconnected, leading to a resource leak.
- CVE-2026-98161Unknown
In the Linux kernel, the nvdimm (pmem) pmem_submit_bio() function records a REQ_PREFLUSH error but continues to copy bio data and can later overwrite the error with a successful REQ_FUA flush. This allows data writes to run after a failed preflush and can complete the bio successfully despite the failed ordering barrier.
- CVE-2026-98160Unknown
In the Linux kernel, the staging rtl8723bs driver's rtw_sdio_if1_init() function frees padapter->HalData with kfree(), even though it was allocated via vzalloc(). Using kfree() to release a vmalloc-backed buffer can lead to memory corruption.
- CVE-2026-100079Unknown
In the Linux kernel, the USB Type-C (ucsi) subsystem's ucsi_register() creates per-instance debugfs entries, but ucsi_unregister() keeps them until ucsi_destroy(). Drivers like ucsi_glink that unregister/register the same UCSI instance across remoteproc restart then try to create an already existing debugfs directory.
- CVE-2026-100078Unknown
In the Linux kernel, the iwlwifi (mei) driver's iwl_mei_write_cyclic_buf() function receives an incorrect first argument — the q_head pointer is passed instead of cldev. The bug has been fixed.
- CVE-2026-100077Unknown
In the Linux kernel, the drm/msm driver does not safely retire a hung submit before GPU recovery completes. Retiring the submit triggers BO free, which can result in GPU pagefaults since the GPU may be actively accessing those BOs.
- CVE-2026-100074Unknown
In the Linux kernel, a bug was fixed where the BPF_REFCOUNT field was not marked as unique, although it should be. The fix addresses this oversight.
- CVE-2026-100073Unknown
In the Linux kernel, a bug in the ext4 filesystem related to transaction overflow during writeback was fixed. A previous fix was too eager in reducing reserved transaction credits, leading to insufficient reservation in some corner cases. The fix uses ext4_meta_trans_blocks() for a correct upper bound estimate.
- CVE-2026-100072Unknown
In the Linux kernel, a problem in the ACPI subsystem was fixed where the use of acpi_get_first_physical_node() in acpi_platform_fill_resource() and acpi_create_platform_device() was unsafe because the returned device could be freed at any time. The fix replaces it with acpi_bus_get_primary_device() and adjusts the code to call it only once.
- CVE-2026-100071Unknown
In the Linux kernel, a memory leak in the HSR (High-availability Seamless Redundancy) module was fixed. When hsr_dev_finalize() fails after registering an RX handler, dynamic nodes learned in that window are not released. The fix frees both dynamic databases in the error unwind path.
Original NVD description (English source)
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: x86/mm/pat: Acquire init_mm write lock on collapse to avoid UAF x86 implements page attribute modification using its Change Page Attributes (CPA) mechanism. This tracks properties of ranges such as cache mode through x86 page attributes, and as part of that logic manipulates kernel page tables. Since commit: 41d88484c71c ("x86/mm/pat: restore large ROX pages after fragmentation") ranges of kernel page table entries can be collapsed into huge page table entries as part of this logic. As part of this collapse, it frees the page tables which the collapsed entries previously pointed to, and it does so without any relevant locks being held to preclude concurrent kernel page table walkers. The only way this code can be reached is if CPA_COLLAPSE is specified, and this is only set in set_memory_rox() via: set_memory_rox() -> change_page_attr_set_clr() -> cpa_flush() -> cpa_collapse_large_pages() Notable users of this are execmem and BPF when manipulating executable mappings. However, this is problematic for ptdump as it walks ranges it does not own and thus runs the risk of a use-after-free on page tables freed underneath it. In addition, concurrent CPA collapse operations are possible which can also cause races. Resolve the issue by acquiring the mmap write lock on init_mm across the whole operation. It is safe to acquire a sleeping lock as all the callers invoke set_memory_rox() from process context and in any case, change_page_attr_set_clr() calls vm_unmap_alias() which ultimately takes a mutex, disallowing atomic context here.
Vulnerability data from NVD (NIST) · CISA KEV · EPSS