NULL pointer dereference in Linux kernel - CVE-2026-93172
Published: September 18, 2026
Vulnerability identifier: #VU150840
CSH Severity: Low
CVSS v4: 5.6 [CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:H/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N]
CVE-ID: CVE-2026-93172
CWE-ID: CWE-476
Exploitation vector: Local access
Exploit availability:
No public exploit available
Vulnerability details
The vulnerability allows a local privileged user to cause a denial of service.
The vulnerability exists due to a null pointer dereference in free_area_init_core_hotplug when initializing per-CPU node statistics during memory hotplug. A local privileged user can initiate a memory hotplug operation that encounters a failed per_cpu_nodestats allocation to cause a denial of service.
Affected software
Linux kernel
How to mitigate CVE-2026-93172
Install security update from vendor's repository.