VulnerabilityPublished 6 Oct 2026Updated 19 Oct 2026

CVE-2026-98225: Linux kernel · mm/shrinker: fix bogus set_shrinker_bit() with cgroup.memory=nokmem

Affects Linux kernelSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited : upgrade to 932cfb25e7ce98d1f93895671ec186a3087e4f80 or 469c12a69ab1842a9090b6c074ffedbfd9584f9c when convenient.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 14:05 UTC

Severity

Low

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

EPSS: 0.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 4% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in 932cfb25e7ce98d1f93895671ec186a3087e4f80, 469c12a69ab1842a9090b6c074ffedbfd9584f9c

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 6 Oct 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.

What to do

Upgrade Linux kernel to 932cfb25e7ce98d1f93895671ec186a3087e4f80 or 469c12a69ab1842a9090b6c074ffedbfd9584f9c.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
LinuxLinux	Affected ≥ fafaeceb89a5e2e856ff04c2cacb6cae4a2ecb67, < 932cfb25e7ce98d1f93895671ec186a3087e4f80	Fixed in 932cfb25e7ce98d1f93895671ec186a3087e4f80
LinuxLinux	Affected ≥ fafaeceb89a5e2e856ff04c2cacb6cae4a2ecb67, < 469c12a69ab1842a9090b6c074ffedbfd9584f9c	Fixed in 469c12a69ab1842a9090b6c074ffedbfd9584f9c
LinuxLinux	Affected =7.2	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

A fix is available in the Linux kernel commits 932cfb25e7ce98d1f93895671ec186a3087e4f80 and 469c12a69ab1842a9090b6c074ffedbfd9584f9c. Users and administrators should apply these updates to resolve the issue. No additional mitigation is required as the fix addresses the root cause.

Description

A vulnerability in the Linux kernel's memory management subsystem related to the shrinker mechanism with cgroup.memory=nokmem has been fixed. The issue involves an invalid shrinker ID that can cause a bounds check warning during memory reclaim operations. This warning prevents out-of-bounds memory reads, making the issue harmless but indicative of a logic flaw. The fix clears the invalid ID to prevent the warning and potential confusion in kernel memory management.

Impact

The vulnerability causes a kernel warning due to an invalid shrinker ID used in memory reclaim operations under specific cgroup configurations. The warning prevents out-of-bounds memory access, so no direct memory corruption or security breach is indicated. The impact is limited to potential kernel warnings and possible instability in memory management under the nokmem cgroup setting.

Summary

CVE-2026-98225 addresses a flaw in the Linux kernel's mm/shrinker code when cgroup.memory is set to nokmem. The shrinker_memcg_alloc() function exits early without allocating an ID, leaving shrinker->id at zero. This zero ID is mistakenly treated as valid in __list_lru_init(), leading to an invalid bit index in lru->shrinker_id. When deferred_split_folio() calls set_shrinker_bit() with this invalid ID, it triggers a WARN_ON_ONCE() bounds check warning. Although this warning prevents an out-of-bounds read, the underlying logic error could cause confusion or instability. The patch clears the ID before returning to ensure it does not appear valid, correcting the root cause.

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 26 Oct 2026, 12:09 UTC

Technical details

References

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