CVE-2026-93253: Linux kernel · sched/isolation: Defer freeing of cpumask memblock memory to initcall
Affects Linux kernelSource GCVE Database
Not known to be exploited.
Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 17:16 UTC
Rated by Threat Radar · CVSS not yet scored by NVD
- EPSS
- 0.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 8% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Exploitation evidence
Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 24 Sep 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.
What to do
Affected software
| Product | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
Ubuntu 26.04 LTSlinuxpkg:deb/ubuntu/linux?arch=source&distro=resoluteOther threats | Affected
| Fixed in– |
Ubuntu 26.04 LTSlinux-awspkg:deb/ubuntu/linux-aws?arch=source&distro=resoluteOther threats | Affected
| Fixed in– |
Ubuntu 26.04 LTSlinux-azurepkg:deb/ubuntu/linux-azure?arch=source&distro=resoluteOther threats | Affected
| Fixed in– |
Ubuntu 26.04 LTSlinux-azure-fdepkg:deb/ubuntu/linux-azure-fde?arch=source&distro=resoluteOther threats | Affected
| Fixed in– |
Ubuntu 26.04 LTSlinux-gcppkg:deb/ubuntu/linux-gcp?arch=source&distro=resoluteOther threats | Affected
| Fixed in– |
Ubuntu 26.04 LTSlinux-gkepkg:deb/ubuntu/linux-gke?arch=source&distro=resoluteOther threats | Affected
| Fixed in– |
Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: sched/isolation: Defer freeing of cpumask memblock memory to initcall When testing a linux-next kernel with commit 59bd1d914bb5 ("memblock: warn when freeing reserved memory before memory map is initialized"), the following warning was hit when there was a "nohz_full" kernel boot parameter. Cannot free reserved memory because of deferred initialization of the memory map WARNING: mm/memblock.c:904 at __free_reserved_area+0xde/0xf0, CPU#0: swapper/0/0 : Call Trace: <TASK> memblock_phys_free+0xcb/0x100 housekeeping_init+0x14c/0x170 start_kernel+0x207/0x450 x86_64_start_reservations+0x24/0x30 x86_64_start_kernel+0xda/0xe0 common_startup_64+0x13e/0x141 </TASK> IOW, we shouldn't free memblock allocated memory so early in the boot process when memory map isn't fully initialized in deferred_init_memmap(). Fix it by saving the housekeeping cpumask memblock memory to be freed into a llist free list in housekeeping_init() and add a new housekeeping_late_init() helper to defer the actual freeing of memblock memory to when initcall's are being processed. The cpumask memblock memory is treated as a llist_node with the size of a "long" type which is also smallest cpumask size that can be allocated. The non-atomic version of the llist APIs are used as there is no contention. This commit depends on the presence of commit 7c2eee9c1367 ("memblock: don't touch memblock arrays when memblock_free() is called late") to prevent a KASAN UAF bug report [1]. [1] https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20260505051821.1107133-1-longman@redhat.com/