VulnerabilityPublished 6 May 2026

CVE-2026-43169: Linux kernel · drm/buddy: Prevent BUG_ON by validating rounded allocation

Source GCVE Database

Not known to be exploited.

Data as of 27 Oct 2026, 02:02 UTC

Severity

Medium

Rated Medium by Threat Radar's AI analysis · No CVSS score from NVD or the CNA

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 6 May 2026
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 26 Oct 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

ghsa-vpc5-6pmj-q288

What to do

AI-suggested

A fix has been implemented that validates the rounded allocation size against the memory manager's size and returns an error or uses a fallback allocation path instead of triggering a kernel panic. Users should apply the official patch or update to a fixed kernel version once available. No additional mitigation is required beyond applying the fix.

Description

A vulnerability in the Linux kernel's drm/buddy memory allocator could cause a kernel BUG_ON due to improper validation of rounded allocation sizes. When certain allocation flags are set, the requested allocation size is rounded up, potentially exceeding the available memory size and triggering a kernel panic. The fix adds validation to ensure the rounded size does not exceed the memory manager's size, returning an error or using a fallback path instead of crashing.

Impact

This vulnerability can cause a denial of service by triggering a kernel panic (BUG_ON) in the Linux kernel's DRM memory allocator. It does not indicate remote code execution or privilege escalation but can disrupt system stability if exploited by providing invalid allocation requests.

Summary

The Linux kernel's drm/buddy allocator rounds requested allocation sizes up to the next power-of-two or aligns them to a minimum block size. This rounding can produce sizes larger than the total available memory (mm->size), which triggers a BUG_ON condition (kernel panic) when order > mm->max_order. The vulnerability arises when invalid user input leads to these oversized allocations. The patch adds checks to compare the rounded size against mm->size, returning -EINVAL for invalid requests or using a fallback allocation path to prevent the kernel panic.

References

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