CVE-2026-68164
Received Received - Intake

Memory Corruption in Linux Kernel DAMON

Vulnerability report for CVE-2026-68164, including description, CVSS score, EPSS score, affected products, exploitability, helpful resources, and attack-flow context.

Publication date: 2026-08-10

Last updated on: 2026-08-10

Assigner: kernel.org

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mm/damon/core: disallow overlapping input ranges for damon_set_regions() damon_set_regions() assumes the input ranges are sorted by the address and don't overlap each other. Hence the assumption was initially to be explicitly validated. But commit 97d482f4592f ("mm/damon/sysfs: reuse damon_set_regions() for regions setting") has mistakenly removed the validation. This can make DAMON behave in unexpected ways. At the best, the monitoring results snapshot will just look weird since there will be overlapping regions. DAMOS will also work weirdly, applying the same action multiple times for overlapping regions, and make DAMOS quota weird. More seriously, depending on the setup and regions updates sequence, negative size regions can be made. It will trigger WARN_ONCE() if the kernel is built with CONFIG_DAMON_DEBUG_SANITY=y. Depending on the monitoring results, the negative size region can further trigger division by zero in damon_merge_two_regions(). Note that some of the consequences including the WARN_ONCE() and the divide by zero depend on commits that were introduced after the root cause commit 97d482f4592f ("mm/damon/sysfs: reuse damon_set_regions() for regions setting"). Fix the problems by checking the assumption and returning an error if the input ranges don't meet the assumption. The issue was discovered [1] by Sashiko.

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Meta Information

Published
2026-08-10
Last Modified
2026-08-10
Generated
2026-08-10
AI Q&A
2026-08-10
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 a missing validation check in the damon_set_regions() function. The function assumes input memory ranges are sorted and non-overlapping, but a previous commit removed the explicit validation. This can cause DAMON to behave unpredictably, including producing incorrect monitoring results, triggering warnings, or even causing division by zero errors.

Detection Guidance

This vulnerability is specific to the Linux kernel's DAMON subsystem and requires kernel-level inspection. Check if your kernel version includes the problematic commit 97d482f4592f by running: uname -r and examining kernel logs for DAMON-related errors or warnings. Look for overlapping region warnings or division by zero errors in system logs.

Impact Analysis

If exploited, this vulnerability could lead to incorrect memory monitoring results, unexpected behavior in DAMOS actions, kernel warnings, or system crashes due to division by zero. Systems relying on DAMON for memory management may experience instability or incorrect operations.

Mitigation Strategies

Apply the latest kernel update that includes the fix for this issue. If immediate patching is not possible, disable DAMON functionality by removing DAMON-related modules or kernel configurations. Monitor system logs for DAMON-related errors as a sign of exploitation.

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