NULL pointer dereference in Linux kernel - CVE-2026-89966
Published: September 16, 2026
Vulnerability identifier: #VU150316
CSH Severity: Low
CVSS v4: 5.7 [CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N]
CVE-ID: CVE-2026-89966
CWE-ID: CWE-476
Exploitation vector: Local access
Exploit availability:
No public exploit available
Vulnerability details
The vulnerability allows a local user to cause a denial of service.
The vulnerability exists due to a null pointer dereference in hugetlb_cma_alloc_frozen_folio() when processing gigantic hugepage allocations with MPOL_PREFERRED_MANY. A local user can request a gigantic hugepage allocation and trigger a page fault to cause a denial of service.
Exploitation requires CMA to be configured on only a subset of NUMA nodes.
Affected software
Linux kernel
How to mitigate CVE-2026-89966
Install security update from vendor's repository.
Linux kernel - update to 7.0 rc3