CVE-2026-43122
ACPI Processor NULL Pointer Dereference in Linux Kernel
Publication date: 2026-05-06
Last updated on: 2026-05-06
Assigner: kernel.org
Description
Description
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Meta Information
Affected Vendors & Products
| Vendor | Product | Version / Range |
|---|---|---|
| linux | linux_kernel | * |
Helpful Resources
Exploitability
| CWE ID | Description |
|---|---|
| CWE-UNKNOWN |
Attack-Flow Graph
AI Powered Q&A
Can you explain this vulnerability to me?
This vulnerability exists in the Linux kernel's ACPI processor idle driver. A recent code change moved the ACPI idle driver registration to a different initialization function, but the check for the cpuidle driver in the __acpi_processor_start() function was not updated accordingly.
Because of this, __acpi_processor_start() might call acpi_processor_power_init() without a cpuidle driver being registered. This leads to an attempt to register a cpuidle device with a NULL pointer, causing a NULL pointer dereference in the __cpuidle_register_device() function.
How can this vulnerability impact me? :
The NULL pointer dereference caused by this vulnerability can lead to a kernel crash or system instability. This may result in denial of service conditions where the affected Linux system becomes unresponsive or crashes unexpectedly.