CVE-2026-89966

UNRATEDCVSS · not yet scoredTrending — 3 sources updated this week
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EchelonGraph verdictMonitorLow exploitation likelihood right now — keep watching.
  • No CVSS published and no exploitation signals yet
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS PROB: 0.2%CVSS v2: —Exploit: None knownExposed services: Not assessed

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

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

mm/hugetlb_cma: fix null nodemask dereference in hugetlb_cma_alloc_frozen_folio

alloc_buddy_hugetlb_folio_with_mpol() can pass a NULL nodemask to alloc_fresh_hugetlb_folio() as a fallback to allocate from all nodes. If order is gigantic, alloc_fresh_hugetlb_folio() propagates the NULL nodemask down to hugetlb_cma_alloc_frozen_folio() via alloc_gigantic_frozen_folio().

Additionally, hugetlb_cma_alloc_frozen_folio() previously attempted allocation on hugetlb_cma[nid] without verifying if nid is included in the caller's nodemask. Adding a node_isset(nid, *nodemask) check ensures the initial preferred node allocation honors the memory policy / nodemask.

However, hugetlb_cma_alloc_frozen_folio() dereferences the nodemask in node_isset(nid, *nodemask) and for_each_node_mask(node, *nodemask), leading to a null pointer dereference kernel panic when nodemask is NULL.

Fix this by checking if nodemask is NULL in hugetlb_cma_alloc_frozen_folio() and defaulting it to cpuset_current_mems_allowed. Enclose the allocation attempts within the cpuset seqcount retry loop so that if the cpuset changes concurrently during allocation, the attempts are retried using the updated nodemask. This ensures that the initial node check and fallback loop safely honor the task's cpuset without violating cpuset constraints or causing NULL pointer dereferences or unexpected allocation failures.

From a userspace perspective, this bug allows an unprivileged user to crash the kernel (trigger a panic) by requesting a gigantic hugepage allocation with MPOL_PREFERRED_MANY on a system where CMA is only configured on a subset of NUMA nodes.

This can be reproduced by booting a VM with two NUMA nodes, restricting CMA to Node 1 (e.g., hugetlb_cma=1:1G default_hugepagesz=1G hugepagesz=1G hugepages=0), and running a program that allocates a 1GB hugepage area without reserving, restricts allocation to Node 0 using mbind() with MPOL_PREFERRED_MANY, and triggers a page fault:

void *ptr = mmap(NULL, 1UL << 30, PROT_READ | PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE | MAP_ANONYMOUS | MAP_HUGETLB | MAP_HUGE_1GB | MAP_NORESERVE, -1, 0); unsigned long nodemask = 1; /* Node 0 */ mbind(ptr, 1UL << 30, MPOL_PREFERRED_MANY, &nodemask, sizeof(nodemask) * 8, 0); memset(ptr, 0, 1UL << 30); /* Trigger fault */

This results in a NULL pointer dereference:

BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000000 #PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode #PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present page Oops: Oops: 0000 [#1] SMP NOPTI RIP: 0010:hugetlb_cma_alloc_frozen_folio+0x75/0x120 Call Trace: only_alloc_fresh_hugetlb_folio.isra.0+0x2c/0x160 alloc_surplus_hugetlb_folio+0x6d/0x100 alloc_hugetlb_folio+0x3c5/0x660 hugetlb_no_page+0x3d9/0x650

CVSS v3
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EchelonGraph score
Not yet assessedNo source has published severity data for this CVE yet — no CVSS score from NVD or a CNA, no GitHub advisory, and it is not in CISA KEV. This is not a rating of zero; we cannot assess it yet.
EG Score
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EG Risk
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EPSS PROB
0.2%
EPSS %ILE
8th
KEV
Not listed

Published

September 16, 2026

Last Modified

September 16, 2026

References (2)

Vendor Advisories for CVE-2026-89966(1)

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

Affected Packages

(1 across 1 ecosystem)
Debian:14(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFix by version rangeDependents
linux6.12.100-1 ... 7.2~rc7-1~exp1 (178 versions)
  • every version up to 7.2.6-1: fixed in 7.2.6-1
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Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 8× in last 7d / 25× 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. 2026-10-04 23:22 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-10-03 13:12 UTCGHSA enrichment
  3. 2026-10-01 19:51 UTCEPSS rescore
  4. 2026-09-30 16:58 UTCEG score recompute
  5. 2026-09-30 16:58 UTCGHSA enrichment
  6. 2026-09-30 15:04 UTCEPSS rescore
  7. 2026-09-28 13:52 UTCEPSS rescore
  8. 2026-09-28 13:52 UTCEPSS rescore
  9. 2026-09-27 20:18 UTCGHSA enrichment
  10. 2026-09-27 13:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  11. 2026-09-26 15:59 UTCEPSS rescore
  12. 2026-09-25 00:05 UTCGHSA enrichment
  13. 2026-09-24 14:04 UTCEPSS rescore
  14. 2026-09-23 17:54 UTCEPSS rescore
  15. 2026-09-22 16:01 UTCEPSS rescore
  16. 2026-09-22 03:50 UTCGHSA enrichment
  17. 2026-09-21 21:09 UTCEPSS rescore
  18. 2026-09-20 20:16 UTCEPSS rescore
  19. 2026-09-19 07:37 UTCEG score recompute
  20. 2026-09-19 07:37 UTCGHSA enrichment
  21. 2026-09-18 19:28 UTCEPSS rescore
  22. 2026-09-17 19:32 UTCEPSS rescore
  23. 2026-09-16 11:21 UTCNVD update
  24. 2026-09-16 10:38 UTCEG score recompute
  25. 2026-09-16 10:36 UTCMITRE cvelistV5first tracked

Frequently asked(4)

What is CVE-2026-89966?
CVE-2026-89966 is a publicly disclosed vulnerability published on September 16, 2026. In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mm/hugetlbcma: fix null nodemask dereference in hugetlbcmaallocfrozen_folio allocbuddyhugetlbfoliowith_mpol() can pass a NULL nodemask to allocfreshhugetlb_folio() as a fallback to allocate from all nodes. If order is gigantic,…
When was CVE-2026-89966 disclosed?
CVE-2026-89966 was first published on September 16, 2026. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2026-89966 actively exploited?
CVE-2026-89966 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. FIRST EPSS estimates a 0.2% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days (8th percentile of EPSS-scored CVEs).
How do I remediate CVE-2026-89966?
No fix for CVE-2026-89966 is confirmed yet. Until one is published, restrict network exposure of the affected system or apply the vendor's mitigation — for example, keep it off the internet or limit it to trusted networks — and watch the vendor's advisory for the fix. The vendor advisories EchelonGraph has for CVE-2026-89966 are linked in the Vendor Advisories panel on this page.

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