VulnerabilityPublished 18 Oct 2026Updated 21 Oct 2026

CVE-2026-98505: Linux kernel · mm/damon/vaddr: avoid hw-driven pte updates during damon_hugetlb_mkold()

Affects Linux kernelSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · fixed in e59cb7eda7c06334a0faf5aa44adb6acf2a1287a : update Linux kernel when convenient.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 17:30 UTC

Severity

Unrated

Rated by Threat Radar · CVSS not yet scored by NVD

EPSS: 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 9% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in e59cb7eda7c06334a0faf5aa44adb6acf2a1287a, 00457981327c80bcc56e07d4714fe189337a19fa, 39c0ceedd54557bdc1542de08d22b2ed33e534e4 +2

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 18 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 to a fixed release listed under Affected software.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
LinuxLinux	Affected ≥ 49f4203aae06ba9d67b500c90339b262b0a52637, < e59cb7eda7c06334a0faf5aa44adb6acf2a1287a	Fixed in e59cb7eda7c06334a0faf5aa44adb6acf2a1287a
LinuxLinux	Affected ≥ 49f4203aae06ba9d67b500c90339b262b0a52637, < 00457981327c80bcc56e07d4714fe189337a19fa	Fixed in 00457981327c80bcc56e07d4714fe189337a19fa
LinuxLinux	Affected ≥ 49f4203aae06ba9d67b500c90339b262b0a52637, < 39c0ceedd54557bdc1542de08d22b2ed33e534e4	Fixed in 39c0ceedd54557bdc1542de08d22b2ed33e534e4
LinuxLinux	Affected ≥ 49f4203aae06ba9d67b500c90339b262b0a52637, < 7ed1062d154ec2401f2c894fd6858598bb1160b6	Fixed in 7ed1062d154ec2401f2c894fd6858598bb1160b6
LinuxLinux	Affected ≥ 49f4203aae06ba9d67b500c90339b262b0a52637, < 6e74ffc9ecf6ec24eee117150da78a1102be74c5	Fixed in 6e74ffc9ecf6ec24eee117150da78a1102be74c5
LinuxLinux	Affected =5.17	Fixed in–

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mm/damon/vaddr: avoid hw-driven pte updates during damon_hugetlb_mkold() damon_hugetlb_mkold() reads the page table entry into a local variable, unsets the accessed bit in the variable, and updates the page table entry with the updated variable value. If hardware updates the same page table entry in parallel, the hw updates could be lost. For example, hardware-updated dirty bits might be lost. Avoid the parallel updates by clearing the page table entry when reading it together, using huge_ptep_get_and_clear(). If a parallel write to the memory is made after the clearing, the hw will see the page table entry is cleared, trigger page fault and wait until it is handled. The page fault handling will wait for damon_hugetlb_mkold() due to the page table lock. Because hugetlbfs is an in-memory file system and hugetlb pages cannot be reclaimed, no critical issue is expected to my best knowledge. But definitely this is a nasty bug that should be fixed sooner rather than later. The issue was discovered [1] by Sashiko.

References

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