CVE-2026-80963
Received Received - Intake

dm-stats NULL Pointer Dereference in Linux Kernel

Publication date: 2026-09-11

Last updated on: 2026-09-11

Assigner: kernel.org

Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: dm-stats: fix a crash if allocation of per-cpu data fails If "dm_kvzalloc(percpu_alloc_size, cpu_to_node(cpu))" fails, the code jumps to the "out" label and calls dm_stat_free. dm_stat_free does "for_each_possible_cpu(cpu) { dm_kvfree(s->stat_percpu[cpu][0].histogram, s->histogram_alloc_size);", which crashes with NULL pointer dereference if s->stat_percpu[cpu] is NULL. This commit fixes the bug by testing s->stat_percpu[cpu] for NULL before using it.

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Meta Information

Published
2026-09-11
Last Modified
2026-09-11
Generated
2026-09-12
AI Q&A
2026-09-11
EPSS Evaluated
N/A
NVD
CVE-2026-80963
EUVD
EUVD-2026-76286

Affected Vendors & Products

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

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Exploitability

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CWE ID Description
CWE-UNKNOWN

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Executive Summary

This is a Linux kernel vulnerability where a crash occurs if memory allocation for per-CPU data fails. The code attempts to free memory without checking if it was successfully allocated, leading to a NULL pointer dereference.

Detection Guidance

This vulnerability is specific to the Linux kernel's device-mapper statistics (dm-stats) functionality. Detection requires checking if your kernel version includes the vulnerable code path. Use 'uname -a' to check your kernel version and compare it against patched versions. If you are running a vulnerable kernel, monitor for crashes in device-mapper related processes or NULL pointer dereference errors in system logs.

Impact Analysis

If exploited, this could cause system instability or crashes in systems using the Linux kernel's device mapper statistics feature. It may lead to denial-of-service conditions on affected systems.

Mitigation Strategies

Immediately update your Linux kernel to a patched version that includes the fix for this vulnerability. If updating is not immediately possible, disable the device-mapper statistics feature by removing or blacklisting the dm-stats module. Monitor system logs for crashes or errors related to device-mapper.

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