Improper Initialization in Linux kernel - CVE-2026-72172

Vulnerability identifier: #VU143418

CSH Severity: Low

CVSS v4: 6.7 [CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:H/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N]

CVE-ID: CVE-2026-72172

CWE-ID: CWE-665

Exploitation vector: Local access

Exploit availability: No public exploit available

The vulnerability allows a local attacker to cause a denial of service.

The vulnerability exists due to uninitialized memory in struct pages for ZONE_DEVICE in mm/mm_init.c when hot-plugging DAX memory into an unoccupied subsection of an early section. A local attacker can hot-plug crafted DAX memory to cause a denial of service.

The issue occurs because the unoptimized boot memmap is reused for early sections while only a reduced number of struct pages are initialized, leaving remaining tail struct pages uninitialized.

Linux kernel
openEuler
python3-perf-debuginfo
python3-perf
perf-debuginfo
perf
kernel-tools-devel
kernel-tools-debuginfo
kernel-tools
kernel-source
kernel-headers
kernel-devel
kernel-debugsource
kernel-debuginfo
bpftool-debuginfo
bpftool
kernel
kernel-extra-modules

Install security update from vendor's repository.

Linux kernel - update to 7.0 rc3
python3-perf-debuginfo - addressed in versions 6.6.0-145.1.24.161, 6.6.0-145.3.29.160
python3-perf - addressed in versions 6.6.0-145.1.24.161, 6.6.0-145.3.29.160
perf-debuginfo - addressed in versions 6.6.0-145.1.24.161, 6.6.0-145.3.29.160
perf - addressed in versions 6.6.0-145.1.24.161, 6.6.0-145.3.29.160
kernel-tools-devel - addressed in versions 6.6.0-145.1.24.161, 6.6.0-145.3.29.160
kernel-tools-debuginfo - addressed in versions 6.6.0-145.1.24.161, 6.6.0-145.3.29.160
kernel-tools - addressed in versions 6.6.0-145.1.24.161, 6.6.0-145.3.29.160
kernel-source - addressed in versions 6.6.0-145.1.24.161, 6.6.0-145.3.29.160
kernel-headers - addressed in versions 6.6.0-145.1.24.161, 6.6.0-145.3.29.160
kernel-devel - addressed in versions 6.6.0-145.1.24.161, 6.6.0-145.3.29.160
kernel-debugsource - addressed in versions 6.6.0-145.1.24.161, 6.6.0-145.3.29.160
kernel-debuginfo - addressed in versions 6.6.0-145.1.24.161, 6.6.0-145.3.29.160
bpftool-debuginfo - addressed in versions 6.6.0-145.1.24.161, 6.6.0-145.3.29.160
bpftool - addressed in versions 6.6.0-145.1.24.161, 6.6.0-145.3.29.160
kernel - addressed in versions 6.6.0-145.1.24.161, 6.6.0-145.3.29.160
kernel-extra-modules - update to 6.6.0-145.3.29.160

• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/11f2826e9ee6f24aaa774e3dcd75abbe4b3091b6
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/511a60e71aec308b24722cffc1912bf6befb87bf
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b91e27bce37cab9f35de0059278ebe457ca9878b
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/cd681403a87085562499d60325b7b45d3be11217
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/da5234df0941665f3a3f5b80f3dab94046537be0

• Improper Initialization in Linux kernel mm
• openEuler 24.03 LTS SP3 update for kernel
• openEuler 24.03 LTS SP1 update for kernel