CVE-2026-64302
Received Received - Intake

Memory Corruption in Linux Kernel x86/mm

Vulnerability report for CVE-2026-64302, including description, CVSS score, EPSS score, affected products, exploitability, helpful resources, and attack-flow context.

Publication date: 2026-07-25

Last updated on: 2026-07-25

Assigner: kernel.org

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: x86/mm: Fix freeing of PMD-sized vmemmap pages Commit bf9e4e30f353 ("x86/mm: use pagetable_free()"), switched from freeing non-boot page tables through __free_pages() to pagetable_free(). However, the function is also called to free vmemmap pages. Given that vmemmap pages are not page tables, already the page_ptdesc(page) is wrong. But worse, pagetable_free() calls: __free_pages(page, compound_order(page)); Since vmemmap pages are not compound pages (see vmemmap_alloc_block()) -- except for HVO, which doesn't apply here -- only first page of a PMD-sized vmemmap page is freed, leaking the other ones. Fix it by properly decoupling pagetable and vmemmap freeing. free_pagetable() no longer has to mess with SECTION_INFO, as only the vmemmap is marked like that in register_page_bootmem_memmap(). The indentation in remove_pmd_table() is messed up. Fix that while touching it. Bootmem info handling will soon be fixed up. For now, handle it similar to free_pagetable(), just avoiding the ifdef. [ dhansen: changelog munging. More imperative voice ]

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Meta Information

Published
2026-07-25
Last Modified
2026-07-25
Generated
2026-07-25
AI Q&A
2026-07-25
EPSS Evaluated
N/A
NVD
EUVD

Affected Vendors & Products

Showing 1 associated CPE
Vendor Product Version / Range
linux linux_kernel *

Helpful Resources

Exploitability

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CWE ID Description
CWE-UNKNOWN

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Executive Summary

This vulnerability in the Linux kernel involves incorrect handling of vmemmap pages during memory management. The issue occurs when the function pagetable_free() is used to free vmemmap pages, which are not page tables. This leads to only the first page of a PMD-sized vmemmap block being freed, causing a memory leak of the remaining pages.

Detection Guidance

This vulnerability is specific to the Linux kernel and requires kernel-level inspection. Detection involves checking kernel logs for memory management errors or using kernel debugging tools like crash or ftrace to identify improper freeing of vmemmap pages. Commands like dmesg or journalctl may show related errors after a crash or reboot.

Impact Analysis

This vulnerability could lead to memory leaks in the Linux kernel, potentially causing system instability or resource exhaustion over time. Systems running affected versions of the Linux kernel may experience degraded performance or crashes due to improper memory management.

Mitigation Strategies

Apply the kernel patch that fixes the issue (commit bf9e4e30f353). Update to a patched kernel version. If immediate patching is not possible, monitor systems for memory corruption or crashes related to vmemmap page handling.

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