CVE-2026-43401

MEDIUMNVD 5.55.5—
EchelonGraph scoreMEDIUM confidence

Score 5.5 from GitHub Security Advisory published 2026-05-08. NVD baseline CVSS 5.5; sources differ by 0.0.

Triggered by: GitHub Security Advisory CVSS
Sources: epss, ghsa, nvd
5.5EG
EchelonGraph verdictMonitorLow exploitation likelihood right now — keep watching.
  • Lower severity and no public exploit yet
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS PROB: 0%CVSS: 5.5Exploit: None knownExposed: 0

No vendor fix yet — apply a workaround or compensating control (WAF / firewall / segmentation) and watch for a patch.

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

cpufreq: intel_pstate: Fix NULL pointer dereference in update_cpu_qos_request()

The update_cpu_qos_request() function attempts to initialize the 'freq' variable by dereferencing 'cpudata' before verifying if the 'policy' is valid.

This issue occurs on systems booted with the "nosmt" parameter, where all_cpu_data[cpu] is NULL for the SMT sibling threads. As a result, any call to update_qos_requests() will result in a NULL pointer dereference as the code will attempt to access pstate.turbo_freq using the NULL cpudata pointer.

Also, pstate.turbo_freq may be updated by intel_pstate_get_hwp_cap() after initializing the 'freq' variable, so it is better to defer the 'freq' until intel_pstate_get_hwp_cap() has been called.

Fix this by deferring the 'freq' assignment until after the policy and driver_data have been validated.

[ rjw: Added one paragraph to the changelog ]

CVSS v3
5.5
EG Score
5.5(medium)
EG Risk
29(Track)
EG Risk 29/100SSVC: Track

EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score: it fuses intrinsic severity with real-world exploitation and automatability so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner. Distinct from the 0–10 EG Score (severity).

How it’s computed
Severity55% × 45%
Exploitation0% × 40%
Automatability30% × 15%
Action: Routine — remediate on your standard cadence.
EPSS PROB
0%
EPSS %ILE
2%
KEV
Not listed

Published

May 8, 2026

Last Modified

May 21, 2026

Advisory Details (3)

Auto-updated Jun 15, 2026
No patch confirmed yet.
generic

cpufreq: intel_pstate: Fix NULL pointer dereference in update_cpu_qos_request() - kernel/git/stable/linux.git - Linux kernel stable tree

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ab39cc4cb8ceecdc2b61747433e7237f1ac2b789
generic

cpufreq: intel_pstate: Fix NULL pointer dereference in update_cpu_qos_request() - kernel/git/stable/linux.git - Linux kernel stable tree

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6bfda7ce56e7d14a677b7bcd6c7a5009cc29aa88
generic

cpufreq: intel_pstate: Fix NULL pointer dereference in update_cpu_qos_request() - kernel/git/stable/linux.git - Linux kernel stable tree

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/42738dffb7b0766a45882dff7989401d78f66f92

Vendor Advisories for CVE-2026-43401(1)

These vendors published their own advisory mentioning this CVE — often with vendor-specific remediation steps + affected product lists not in NVD.

Patch Availability(1)

Vendor / EcosystemFixed in / PatchReleasedSource
linuxKernel @ 6.18.19—osv

Patches are aggregated from vendor advisories (Red Hat, Microsoft, Cisco, GitHub) and package ecosystems (OSV, GHSA). Multiple rows for the same upstream release have been deduplicated.

Affected Packages

(1 across 1 ecosystem)
Debian:14(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
linux6.12.100-1 ... 6.19~rc8-1~exp1 (119 versions)6.19.10-1—

Weakness Classification(1)

MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 5× in last 7d / 47× in last 30d)

Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.

Showing the most recent 100 of 167 total refreshes for this CVE.

  1. 2026-09-04 05:06 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-09-02 14:12 UTCEPSS rescore
  3. 2026-09-01 13:54 UTCEPSS rescore
  4. 2026-08-30 19:17 UTCEPSS rescore
  5. 2026-08-30 01:22 UTCEPSS rescore
  6. 2026-08-28 21:41 UTCEPSS rescore
  7. 2026-08-27 14:25 UTCEPSS rescore
  8. 2026-08-26 14:46 UTCEPSS rescore
  9. 2026-08-25 13:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  10. 2026-08-23 19:08 UTCEG score recompute
  11. 2026-08-23 19:08 UTCGHSA enrichment
  12. 2026-08-23 00:19 UTCEPSS rescore
  13. 2026-08-21 23:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  14. 2026-08-20 22:55 UTCEPSS rescore
  15. 2026-08-19 17:04 UTCEPSS rescore
  16. 2026-08-18 13:48 UTCEPSS rescore
  17. 2026-08-17 13:47 UTCEPSS rescore
  18. 2026-08-17 11:32 UTCEG score recompute
  19. 2026-08-17 11:32 UTCGHSA enrichment
  20. 2026-08-16 14:56 UTCEPSS rescore
  21. 2026-08-16 04:35 UTCEG score recompute
  22. 2026-08-16 04:35 UTCGHSA enrichment
  23. 2026-08-16 02:14 UTCEPSS rescore
  24. 2026-08-15 01:30 UTCEPSS rescore
  25. 2026-08-14 03:09 UTCEG score recompute
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  1. 2026-08-14 03:09 UTCGHSA enrichment
  2. 2026-08-13 22:00 UTCEPSS rescore
  3. 2026-08-13 00:28 UTCEG score recompute
  4. 2026-08-13 00:28 UTCGHSA enrichment
  5. 2026-08-12 13:51 UTCEPSS rescore
  6. 2026-08-12 00:57 UTCEG score recompute
  7. 2026-08-12 00:57 UTCGHSA enrichment
  8. 2026-08-11 13:43 UTCEPSS rescore
  9. 2026-08-11 01:26 UTCEG score recompute
  10. 2026-08-11 01:26 UTCGHSA enrichment
  11. 2026-08-11 00:00 UTCEPSS rescore
  12. 2026-08-10 01:55 UTCEG score recompute
  13. 2026-08-10 01:55 UTCGHSA enrichment
  14. 2026-08-09 13:46 UTCEPSS rescore
  15. 2026-08-09 02:24 UTCEG score recompute
  16. 2026-08-09 02:24 UTCGHSA enrichment
  17. 2026-08-08 16:37 UTCEPSS rescore
  18. 2026-08-07 21:13 UTCEG score recompute
  19. 2026-08-07 21:13 UTCGHSA enrichment
  20. 2026-08-06 21:42 UTCEG score recompute
  21. 2026-08-06 21:42 UTCGHSA enrichment
  22. 2026-08-06 13:46 UTCEPSS rescore
  23. 2026-08-05 22:08 UTCEG score recompute
  24. 2026-08-05 22:08 UTCGHSA enrichment
  25. 2026-08-05 19:17 UTCEPSS rescore
  26. 2026-08-04 15:10 UTCEPSS rescore
  27. 2026-08-04 10:38 UTCEPSS rescore
  28. 2026-08-04 01:52 UTCEG score recompute
  29. 2026-08-04 01:52 UTCGHSA enrichment
  30. 2026-08-03 10:36 UTCEPSS rescore
  31. 2026-08-03 02:21 UTCGHSA enrichment
  32. 2026-08-02 02:50 UTCEG score recompute
  33. 2026-08-02 02:50 UTCGHSA enrichment
  34. 2026-08-02 02:27 UTCEPSS rescore
  35. 2026-08-01 04:16 UTCEPSS rescore
  36. 2026-07-30 16:28 UTCEPSS rescore
  37. 2026-07-30 01:30 UTCEPSS rescore
  38. 2026-07-28 15:36 UTCEPSS rescore
  39. 2026-07-27 14:13 UTCEPSS rescore
  40. 2026-07-26 14:54 UTCEPSS rescore
  41. 2026-07-26 14:54 UTCEPSS rescore
  42. 2026-07-25 14:18 UTCEPSS rescore
  43. 2026-07-24 14:17 UTCEPSS rescore
  44. 2026-07-23 14:18 UTCEPSS rescore
  45. 2026-07-23 03:14 UTCEG score recompute
  46. 2026-07-22 14:08 UTCEPSS rescore
  47. 2026-07-21 15:24 UTCEPSS rescore
  48. 2026-07-20 17:08 UTCEPSS rescore
  49. 2026-07-19 14:31 UTCEPSS rescore
  50. 2026-07-19 02:29 UTCEPSS rescore
  51. 2026-07-18 10:04 UTCEPSS rescore
  52. 2026-07-16 17:03 UTCEPSS rescore
  53. 2026-07-16 05:23 UTCOSV refresh
  54. 2026-07-15 16:57 UTCEPSS rescore
  55. 2026-07-15 02:00 UTCEPSS rescore
  56. 2026-07-13 22:30 UTCEPSS rescore
  57. 2026-07-13 06:13 UTCEPSS rescore
  58. 2026-07-12 05:46 UTCEPSS rescore
  59. 2026-07-11 08:27 UTCEPSS rescore
  60. 2026-07-09 19:10 UTCEPSS rescore
  61. 2026-07-08 15:16 UTCEPSS rescore
  62. 2026-07-07 13:46 UTCEPSS rescore
  63. 2026-07-06 02:23 UTCEPSS rescore
  64. 2026-07-05 02:30 UTCEPSS rescore
  65. 2026-07-04 06:31 UTCEPSS rescore
  66. 2026-07-01 15:06 UTCEPSS rescore
  67. 2026-06-30 23:22 UTCEPSS rescore
  68. 2026-06-29 14:06 UTCEPSS rescore
  69. 2026-06-28 14:07 UTCEPSS rescore
  70. 2026-06-28 04:55 UTCGHSA enrichment
  71. 2026-06-27 03:08 UTCEPSS rescore
  72. 2026-06-26 21:25 UTCGHSA enrichment
  73. 2026-06-25 13:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  74. 2026-06-25 13:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  75. 2026-06-24 14:05 UTCEPSS rescore

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Frequently asked(5)

What is CVE-2026-43401?
CVE-2026-43401 is a medium vulnerability published on May 8, 2026. In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: cpufreq: intelpstate: Fix NULL pointer dereference in updatecpuqosrequest() The updatecpuqos_request() function attempts to initialize the 'freq' variable by dereferencing 'cpudata' before verifying if the 'policy' is valid. This…
When was CVE-2026-43401 disclosed?
CVE-2026-43401 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on May 8, 2026, with the most recent update on May 21, 2026. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2026-43401 actively exploited?
CVE-2026-43401 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. FIRST EPSS estimates a 0% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, which ranks it in the top 97.9% of all scored CVEs.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2026-43401?
CVE-2026-43401 has a CVSS v3 base score of 5.5 (NVD).
How do I remediate CVE-2026-43401?
Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2026-43401, EchelonGraph cross-links them in the Vendor Advisories panel below — those typically contain the canonical remediation steps, fixed version numbers, and any vendor-specific mitigations.

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