CVE-2026-93232

What the bug is

Patch series "mm: Refactor bootmem gigantic hugepage allocation", v4. This series is split out from the earlier larger series "mm: Generalize HVO for HugeTLB and device DAX" [1]. It collects the first 19 patches of that series as a standalone set of fixes and preparatory cleanups around bootmem HugeTLB handling, sparse initialization ordering, and related vmemmap setup. The first patches fix a few bugs found while reviewing the existing code, including incorrect bootmem HVO handling, wrong vmemmap registration arguments, a powerpc compound-vmemmap tracking bug, and too-late initialization of gigantic bootmem HugeTLB struct pages. The rest of the series reorders early memory initialization so the relevant zone state is available before sparse and HugeTLB boot-time setup runs, then simplifies the remaining bootmem gigantic hugepage allocation path and removes code made obsolete by that rework. At a high level: - patches [1-4] fix boot-time and arch-specific bugs - patches [5-12] reorder and simplify sparse/mm/hugetlb early init - patches [13-19] refactor bootmem gigantic hugepage allocation and remove obsolete helpers and state This patch (of 19): Commit 622026e87c40 ("mm/hugetlb: remove fake head pages") switched HVO to reuse per-zone shared tail pages from zone->vmemmap_tails[]. Those shared tail pages were initialized in hugetlb_vmemmap_init(), but bootmem HugeTLB folios are prepared earlier from gather_bootmem_prealloc(). With hugetlb_free_vmemmap=on, prep_and_add_bootmem_folios() can access pageblock flags on bootmem HugeTLB pages whose mirrored tail struct pages already point to the shared tail page. On CONFIG_DEBUG_VM kernels, get_pfnblock_bitmap_bitidx() then dereferences the still-uninitialized shared tail page and can panic during boot. Initialize zone->vmemmap_tails[] from gather_bootmem_prealloc(), before bootmem HugeTLB folios are processed, and drop the later initialization from hugetlb_vmemmap_init(). This bug only affects CONFIG_DEBUG_VM kernels, where the relevant assertion is evaluated.

Where it lives

The fix touches these files. If the subsystem is one you do not use, the practical exposure is lower, though the package is still the vulnerable one.

mm/hugetlb.c
mm/hugetlb_vmemmap.c
mm/sparse-vmemmap.c

What this is

HUGETLB SUBSYSTEMMAINTAINERS section matched on mm/hugetlb.c · linux-mm@kvack.org · Maintained

Check it on the machine

grep -w CONFIG_HUGETLBFS /boot/config-$(uname -r)

Reads the booted kernel's own configuration, on the machine and nowhere else. =y is built in, =m is a module, and an is not set line means the code is not there.

Show whether Debian builds this, per release

Debian builds this, but not on every flavour. At least one release below builds the code on some of its kernel flavours and not on others, so the answer depends on the architecture and flavour installed.

• bookwormYnot built on armhf/armmp, armhf/rt/armmp
• trixieYnot built on armel/rpi, armhf/armmp, armhf/rt/armmp
• forky, sidYnot built on armhf/armmp

Y

built in where it is built at all; some flavours do not build it

Build switch

CONFIG_HUGETLBFS

From the configuration Debian publishes for every kernel flavour it builds. It covers only the architectures Debian ships a linux-config package for, and nothing about a kernel you built yourself. Debian's own status above stays authoritative about the source package.MAINTAINERS kbuild Makefiles Debian linux-config packages

Signals

Published

2026-09-24 (24 days ago)source

CVSS

no vector published, unrated

Attack vector

not published

EPSS

0.15%, higher than 4.2% of all CVEssource

CISA KEV

not listedthe KEV catalogue

Debian urgency

unimportantsource

Subsystem

mm

Upstream fixes

The versions the CNA records as introducing and fixing this, and the commit for each. source

Introduced	Fixed in	Commit
7.1	7.2.4	2ddf429e25cf
7.1	7.3	c0caeceb0c38