VulnerabilityPublished 17 Sep 2026Updated 30 Oct 2026

CVE-2026-93172: Linux kernel · mm/mm_init: handle alloc_percpu failure in free_area_init_core_hotplug

Source GCVE Database

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Authoritative record:CVE-2026-93172· Medium

Not known to be exploited · fixed in eb872b92e26c2576742d541e45f28b50af059b8b : update Linux kernel when convenient.

Data as of 30 Oct 2026, 18:17 UTC

Severity

Medium

Rated Medium by Threat Radar's AI analysis · CVSS not yet scored by NVD

Thin evidence

One scorer or none

Patch: Available – fixed in eb872b92e26c2576742d541e45f28b50af059b8b, bc3b5e6519b8df22d622a03eab6772784da97db4, 1017fe1c7f48e511c5a680e3057005daaff2f3a2 +3

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 17 Sep 2026
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponized: 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 30 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.
Weaponized: A Metasploit exploit module or Exploit-DB entry exists (Metasploit scanner modules do not count), 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-3775-xr2m-86hx

What to do

Upgrade to a fixed release listed under Affected software.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
LinuxLinux	Affected ≥ 75ef7184053989118d3814c558a9af62e7376a58, < eb872b92e26c2576742d541e45f28b50af059b8b	Fixed in eb872b92e26c2576742d541e45f28b50af059b8b
LinuxLinux	Affected ≥ 75ef7184053989118d3814c558a9af62e7376a58, < bc3b5e6519b8df22d622a03eab6772784da97db4	Fixed in bc3b5e6519b8df22d622a03eab6772784da97db4
LinuxLinux	Affected ≥ 75ef7184053989118d3814c558a9af62e7376a58, < 1017fe1c7f48e511c5a680e3057005daaff2f3a2	Fixed in 1017fe1c7f48e511c5a680e3057005daaff2f3a2
LinuxLinux	Affected ≥ 75ef7184053989118d3814c558a9af62e7376a58, < 4dda09e7ca0bf0c3fa7c5c8f134d9804b67f455c	Fixed in 4dda09e7ca0bf0c3fa7c5c8f134d9804b67f455c
LinuxLinux	Affected ≥ 75ef7184053989118d3814c558a9af62e7376a58, < 4cc5caef9a8d1894dfa31d84a0daa0ac1437dadc	Fixed in 4cc5caef9a8d1894dfa31d84a0daa0ac1437dadc
LinuxLinux	Affected ≥ 75ef7184053989118d3814c558a9af62e7376a58, < 2ebce860bdd7ae5e13002811bc9bbbf33fcfc221	Fixed in 2ebce860bdd7ae5e13002811bc9bbbf33fcfc221

AI-suggested

A fix has been implemented in the Linux kernel to handle allocation failures properly in free_area_init_core_hotplug. Systems should apply the official kernel update containing this fix once available. Until then, no specific workaround is described, but the issue is mitigated by the kernel's error propagation and cleanup logic.

Description

A vulnerability in the Linux kernel's memory management subsystem was fixed by properly handling allocation failures for per-CPU node statistics during hotplug initialization. The flaw involved missing a failure check for a per-CPU allocation, which could lead to a NULL pointer dereference. The fix propagates the allocation failure error and ensures safe fallback behavior without marking the node online or leaking resources.

Impact

The vulnerability could cause a NULL pointer dereference in the Linux kernel during memory node hotplug initialization, potentially leading to kernel crashes or instability. However, the fix ensures that allocation failures are handled gracefully without marking the node online or leaking resources, mitigating the risk of system instability.

Summary

CVE-2026-93172 addresses a flaw in the Linux kernel's mm_init component where a failed allocation of pgdat->per_cpu_nodestats was not checked, causing a NULL pointer dereference when accessing the per-CPU area. The patch propagates the -ENOMEM error up the call stack and leaves per_cpu_nodestats pointing to a safe fallback (boot_nodestats). The hotadd_init_pgdat() function returns NULL on failure, which __try_online_node() maps to -ENOMEM. This prevents the node from being marked online and ensures cleanup of memory resources, allowing later retries of the allocation.

References

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