Skip to content
Fencer Vulns
high 7.8

CVE-2026-72172 json

mm/mm_init: fix uninitialized struct pages for ZONE_DEVICE

published 2026-08-15 2 mo ago modified 2026-10-16 23 d ago also EUVD-2026-58930

cvss
7.8
version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.2%
EPSS 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 6%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

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

mm/mm_init: fix uninitialized struct pages for ZONE_DEVICE

If DAX memory is hotplugged into an unoccupied subsection of an early section, section_activate() reuses the unoptimized boot memmap. However, compound_nr_pages() still assumes that vmemmap optimization is in effect and initializes only the reduced number of struct pages. As a result, the remaining tail struct pages are left uninitialized, which can later lead to unexpected behavior or crashes.

Fix this by treating early sections as unoptimized when calculating how many struct pages to initialize.

Patch / fix

  • Linux Linux 6.1.184, 6.6.145, 6.12.97, 6.18.40, 7.1.5, 7.2
  • linux Debian 12 6.1.187-1
  • linux Debian 13 6.12.100-1
  • linux Debian 14 7.1.5-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2026-72172

  • linux Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-147.147
  • linux Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-38.38
  • linux-aws Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-1067.70
  • linux-aws Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-1014.14
  • linux-gcp Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-1071.79
  • linux-gcp Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-1014.14
  • linux-gke Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-1066.74
  • linux-gke Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-1008.9

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2026-72172

Ubuntu security data © Canonical Ltd., from https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

  • kernel-rt Real Time Module 15 SP7 6.4.0-150700.7.81.1
  • kernel-syms-rt Real Time Module 15 SP7 6.4.0-150700.7.81.1
  • kernel-source-rt Real Time Module 15 SP7 6.4.0-150700.7.81.1
  • kernel-64kb SLE Module for Basesystem 15 SP7 6.4.0-150700.53.87.3
  • kernel-syms SLE Module for Development Tools 15 SP7 6.4.0-150700.53.87.1
  • kernel-azure SLE Module for Public Cloud 15 SP7 6.4.0-150700.53.87.3
  • kernel-source SLE Module for Development Tools 15 SP7, SLE Module for Basesystem 15 SP7 6.4.0-150700.53.87.3
  • kernel-default SLE Workstation Extension 15 SP7, SLE Module for Legacy 15 SP7, SLE Module for Basesystem 15 SP7 +2 more 6.4.0-150700.53.87.3

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2026:4940-1SUSE-SU-2026:4935-1SUSE-SU-2026:24473-1SUSE-SU-2026:24553-1SUSE-SU-2026:24422-1SUSE-SU-2026:24446-1

  • kernel-rt openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.40.1
  • dtb-aarch64 openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.40.1
  • kernel-64kb openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.40.1
  • kernel-syms openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.40.1
  • kernel-azure openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.40.1
  • kernel-obs-qa openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.40.1
  • kernel-source openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.40.1
  • kernel-default openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.40.1

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2026:22167-1

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2026-72172 updated cvss 5.5

kernel: mm/mm_init: fix uninitialized struct pages for ZONE_DEVICE

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 perf, kernel, python-perf, kernel-kdump, kernel-firmware, kernel-bootwrapper, +1 more
    affected: workaround, no fix planned “Out of support scope”
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 rv, perf, rtla, kernel, bpftool, libperf, +82 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 kernel
    affected: workaround, no fix available “Fix deferred”
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, python-perf, kernel-kdump, +8 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, kernel-core, kernel-tools, +29 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 kernel-rt, kernel-rt-selftests-internal
    not affected: vulnerable code not present

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

CISA SSVC

Exploitation
none
Automatable
no
Technical impact
total
Assessed
23 d ago

Exploit prediction

0.17% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 6% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CNA 3.1 7.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected products

  • Linux Linux

Classification

Technology feeds

References

Sources

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.