CVE-2026-72172

HIGHPre-NVD 7.87.8—
EchelonGraph scoreHIGH confidence

Score 7.8 from GitHub Security Advisory (severity: HIGH) published 2026-08-15. a secondary CVSS source baseline 7.8; sources differ by 0.0.

Triggered by: GitHub Security Advisory CVSS
Sources: epss, ghsa, secondary
Trending — 5 sources updated this week
7.8EG
EchelonGraph verdictPlan a fixSerious severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet.
  • High severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS PROB: 0%CVSS: 7.8Exploit: 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:

mm/mm_init: fix uninitialized struct pages for ZONE_DEVICE

If DAX memory is hotplugged into an unoccupied subsection of an early section, section_activate() reuses the unoptimized boot memmap. However, compound_nr_pages() still assumes that vmemmap optimization is in effect and initializes only the reduced number of struct pages. As a result, the remaining tail struct pages are left uninitialized, which can later lead to unexpected behavior or crashes.

Fix this by treating early sections as unoptimized when calculating how many struct pages to initialize.

CVSS v3
7.8
EG Score
7.8(high)
EG Risk
40(Track)
EG Risk 40/100SSVC: 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
Severity78% × 45%
Exploitation0% × 40%
Automatability30% × 15%
Action: Routine — remediate on your standard cadence.
EPSS PROB
0%
EPSS %ILE
6%
KEV
Not listed

Published

August 15, 2026

Last Modified

August 17, 2026

Advisory Details (5)

Auto-updated Aug 17, 2026
No patch confirmed yet.
generic

mm/mm_init: fix uninitialized struct pages for ZONE_DEVICE - kernel/git/stable/linux.git - Linux kernel stable tree

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/da5234df0941665f3a3f5b80f3dab94046537be0
generic

mm/mm_init: fix uninitialized struct pages for ZONE_DEVICE - kernel/git/stable/linux.git - Linux kernel stable tree

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/cd681403a87085562499d60325b7b45d3be11217
generic

mm/mm_init: fix uninitialized struct pages for ZONE_DEVICE - kernel/git/stable/linux.git - Linux kernel stable tree

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b91e27bce37cab9f35de0059278ebe457ca9878b
generic

mm/mm_init: fix uninitialized struct pages for ZONE_DEVICE - kernel/git/stable/linux.git - Linux kernel stable tree

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/511a60e71aec308b24722cffc1912bf6befb87bf
generic

mm/mm_init: fix uninitialized struct pages for ZONE_DEVICE - kernel/git/stable/linux.git - Linux kernel stable tree

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/11f2826e9ee6f24aaa774e3dcd75abbe4b3091b6

Vendor Advisories for CVE-2026-72172(1)

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

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 32× in last 7d / 32× 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.

  1. 2026-08-21 05:31 UTCEG score recompute
  2. 2026-08-21 05:31 UTCGHSA enrichment
  3. 2026-08-20 22:56 UTCEPSS rescore
  4. 2026-08-20 17:49 UTCGHSA enrichment
  5. 2026-08-20 06:07 UTCGHSA enrichment
  6. 2026-08-19 18:25 UTCEG score recompute
  7. 2026-08-19 18:25 UTCGHSA enrichment
  8. 2026-08-19 17:04 UTCEPSS rescore
  9. 2026-08-19 06:20 UTCGHSA enrichment
  10. 2026-08-18 18:27 UTCEG score recompute
  11. 2026-08-18 18:27 UTCGHSA enrichment
  12. 2026-08-18 13:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  13. 2026-08-18 13:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  14. 2026-08-18 06:44 UTCGHSA enrichment
  15. 2026-08-17 19:01 UTCEG score recompute
  16. 2026-08-17 19:01 UTCGHSA enrichment
  17. 2026-08-17 13:47 UTCEPSS rescore
  18. 2026-08-17 06:21 UTCEG score recompute
  19. 2026-08-17 06:21 UTCGHSA enrichment
  20. 2026-08-17 06:00 UTCEG score recompute▲ 7.80
  21. 2026-08-17 06:00 UTCGHSA enrichment
  22. 2026-08-17 05:54 UTCMITRE cvelistV5CVSS v3 → 7.8 · severity → HIGH
  23. 2026-08-17 05:32 UTCEG score recompute
  24. 2026-08-17 05:32 UTCGHSA enrichment
  25. 2026-08-17 05:25 UTCMITRE cvelistV5
Show 7 more
  1. 2026-08-16 14:56 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-08-16 14:56 UTCEPSS rescore
  3. 2026-08-16 02:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  4. 2026-08-15 06:41 UTCGHSA enrichment
  5. 2026-08-15 06:23 UTCNVD update
  6. 2026-08-15 06:11 UTCEG score recompute
  7. 2026-08-15 06:02 UTCMITRE cvelistV5first tracked

Frequently asked(5)

What is CVE-2026-72172?
CVE-2026-72172 is a high vulnerability published on August 15, 2026. In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mm/mminit: fix uninitialized struct pages for ZONEDEVICE If DAX memory is hotplugged into an unoccupied subsection of an early section, section_activate() reuses the unoptimized boot memmap. However, compoundnrpages() still assumes…
When was CVE-2026-72172 disclosed?
CVE-2026-72172 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on August 15, 2026, with the most recent update on August 17, 2026. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2026-72172 actively exploited?
CVE-2026-72172 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 94.0% of all scored CVEs.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2026-72172?
CVE-2026-72172 has a CVSS v3 base score of 7.8 (NVD).
How do I remediate CVE-2026-72172?
Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2026-72172, 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.

Dependency Blast Radius

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