CVE-2026-89754Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write
Linux kernel: mm/pagewalk: fix stale walk->action escaping walk_pmd_range()
Published Sep 11, 2026 · Updated Oct 19, 2026
Key Facts
Patch in the next maintenance window- CVE-2026-89754 is a high-severity vulnerability (CVSS 7.8 v3.1) affecting Linux Kernel, Linux (debian), bpftool6.18 (amazon) and 18 more products.
- It is not listed in any known-exploited vulnerabilities catalog. No public exploit code is known.
- EPSS estimates a 0.2% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.
- Fixed versions are available, including bpftool6.18 1:6.18.51-120.162.amzn2023, Kernel 6.18.50, Kernel 7.2.4.
- Brandefense priority: patch in the next maintenance window, because of its high severity, although no exploitation is known.
Scores
CVSS v3.1
7.8
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS (30-day exploit likelihood)
0.2%
Higher than 6.3% of all scored CVEs
Exploit maturity
Proof of concept
ATLAS score
37/100
Publication score, see How it works
Exploitation Verdict
KEV listed
Not listed
Federal due date
None
No federal due date
Ransomware use
Not reported
Attributed actors
None named
Exploit & Defence Guidance
Exploit maturity
Proof of concept
Public exploit code
1
Proof-of-concept links
In-the-wild evidence
0
Reports of active use
Advisories And Exploit References
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
mm/pagewalk: fix stale walk->action escaping walk_pmd_range()
If ->pmd_entry() sets walk->action = ACTION_AGAIN, the pmd_none() check is retried. The PMD entry may be cleared at the point of retry.
In this case, if walk->ops->install_pte is not specified, the code continues to the next PMD entry in the range without resetting walk->action to ACTION_SUBTREE.
This leaves walk->action erroneously set to ACTION_AGAIN, which is incorrect.
This was incorrect but not problematic up until commit 3b89863c3fa4 ("mm/pagewalk: fix race between concurrent split and refault") which updated walk_pud_range() to check for walk->action == ACTION_AGAIN upon walk_pmd_range()'s return, causing the PUD walk to be retried.
In this case this results in duplicate walk callbacks being invoked, which is erroneous and will break any caller that is not idempotent with respect to this (and waste time for those which are). The result is an out-of-bounds write, triggered by a local fuzzer:
[ 2.272695] ================================================================== [ 2.273471] BUG: KASAN: slab-out-of-bounds in mincore_unmapped_range+0x14f/0x190 [ 2.274302] Write of size 1 at addr ffff888008d9b000 by task poc/106 [ 2.274966] [ 2.275154] CPU: 0 UID: 1000 PID: 106 Comm: poc Not tainted 7.2.0-rc6-00429-ga7c7074b58d2 #55 PREEMPT(lazy) [ 2.275159] Hardware name: QEMU Ubuntu 24.04 PC v2 (i440FX + PIIX, arch_caps fix, 1996), BIOS 1.16.3-debian-1.16.3-2 04/01/2014 [ 2.275164] Call Trace: [ 2.275170] [ 2.275172] dump_stack_lvl+0x53/0x70 [ 2.275200] print_report+0xd0/0x630 [ 2.275210] ? pfxraw_spin_lock_irqsave+0x10/0x10 [ 2.275219] ? irqentry_exit+0xd2/0x670 [ 2.275224] ? irqentry_exit+0xd2/0x670 [ 2.275226] ? virt_addr_valid+0xef/0x1a0 [ 2.275239] ? mincore_unmapped_range+0x14f/0x190 [ 2.275242] kasan_report+0xce/0x100 [ 2.275245] ? mincore_unmapped_range+0x14f/0x190 [ 2.275248] mincore_unmapped_range+0x14f/0x190 [ 2.275252] mincore_unmapped_range+0x45/0x70 [ 2.275254] walk_pgd_range+0xafc/0xfc0 [ 2.275261] ? pfx_walk_pgd_range+0x10/0x10 [ 2.275264] ? update_load_avg_se+0x3d1/0x670 [ 2.275275] walk_page_range+0xc0/0x310 [ 2.275278] ? pfx_find_vma+0x10/0x10 [ 2.275281] ? finish_task_switch.isra.0+0x16d/0x4f0 [ 2.275290] walk_page_range_mm_unsafe+0x26f/0x3a0 [ 2.275293] ? pfx_mtree_load+0x10/0x10 [ 2.275298] ? pfx_walk_page_range_mm_unsafe+0x10/0x10 [ 2.275302] ? free_frozen_pages+0x54d/0x7e0 [ 2.275308] do_sys_mincore+0x132/0x380 [ 2.275311] do_syscall_64+0xf9/0x540 [ 2.275316] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f [ 2.275322] RIP: 0033:0x422ccd [ 2.275326] Code: b3 66 2e 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 00 66 90 f3 0f 1e fa 48 89 f8 48 89 f7 48 89 d6 48 89 ca 4d 89 c2 4d 89 c8 4c 8b 4c 24 08 0f 05 3d 01 f0 ff ff 73 01 c3 48 c7 c1 b8 ff ff ff f7 d8 64 89 01 48 [ 2.275329] RSP: 002b:00007fffffffec18 EFLAGS: 00000287 ORIG_RAX: 000000000000001b [ 2.275337] RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 0000000000000066 RCX: 0000000000422ccd [ 2.275339] RDX: 00000000004d0940 RSI: 0000000001000000 RDI: 00007ffff4000000 [ 2.275340] RBP: 00000000004d0940 R08: 0000000000000100 R09: 0000000000000100 [ 2.275342] R10: 0000000000000100 R11: 0000000000000287 R12: 20c49ba5e353f7cf [ 2.275343] R13: 00000000004990d3 R14: 0000000000000000 R15: 0000000000000001 [ 2.275346] [ 2.275347] [ 2.296904] The buggy address belongs to the object at ffff888008d9b000 [ 2.296904] which belongs to the cache sigqueue of size 80 [ 2.298151] The buggy address is located 0 bytes inside of [ 2.298151] allocated 80-byte region [ffff888008d9b000, ffff888008d9b050) [ 2.299408] [ 2.299601] The buggy address belongs to the physical page: [ 2.300191] page: refcount:0 mapcount:0 mapping:0000000000000000 index:0x0 pfn:0x8d9b ---truncated---
Affected Products
25 affected entries in total| Product | Affected versions | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| Linux KernelLinux | See advisory | 6.18.50 |
| Linuxdebian | >= 38ec58670a0c5fc1edabdeccd857e586b7b3f318 | 0 |
| bpftool6.18amazon | See advisory | 1:6.18.51-120.162.amzn2023 |
| kernel6.18-debuginfo-common-aarch64amazon | See advisory | 1:6.18.51-120.162.amzn2023 |
| kernel6.18-debuginfo-common-x86_64amazon | See advisory | 1:6.18.51-120.162.amzn2023 |
Patched Releases
bpftool6.18
1:6.18.51-120.162.amzn2023
Kernel
6.18.50, 7.2.4
kernel-devel
7.2.7-1.1
kernel-livepatch-6.18.51-120.162
1:1.0-0.amzn2023
kernel-macros
7.2.7-1.1
kernel-source
7.2.7-1.1
kernel-source-vanilla
7.2.7-1.1
kernel6.18
1:6.18.51-120.162.amzn2023
kernel6.18-debuginfo-common-aarch64
1:6.18.51-120.162.amzn2023
kernel6.18-debuginfo-common-x86_64
1:6.18.51-120.162.amzn2023
kernel6.18-devel
1:6.18.51-120.162.amzn2023
kernel6.18-headers
1:6.18.51-120.162.amzn2023
kernel6.18-modules-extra
1:6.18.51-120.162.amzn2023
kernel6.18-modules-extra-common
1:6.18.51-120.162.amzn2023
kernel6.18-tools
1:6.18.51-120.162.amzn2023
kernel6.18-tools-devel
1:6.18.51-120.162.amzn2023
Linux
7.2.6-1, 6.18.50, 6.20, 7.2.4, 895cd4ecbb2e03d7583103c65ee5adaae126ed6d, aedf2efd18977e0cef7eb963166e2b1fcc0aa321, c05cdc2ab365b98099386e6c166b9865a4f2a9d3
Linux Kernel
6.18.50, 7.2.4, 7.3-rc1
microvm-kernel6.18
1:6.18.51-120.162.amzn2023
perf6.18
1:6.18.51-120.162.amzn2023
python3-perf6.18
1:6.18.51-120.162.amzn2023
Timeline
Publicly disclosed
Sep 11, 2026
Last updated
Oct 19, 2026
Weakness Type
- CWE-787 Out-of-bounds Write
References
- advisorycve.org · CVERecord
- advisorynvd.nist.gov · CVE-2026-89754
- advisorygit.kernel.org · linux.git
- advisoryUSOM advisory
- othergit.kernel.org · linux.git
FAQ
Common Questions.
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mm/pagewalk: fix stale walk->action escaping walk_pmd_range() If ->pmd_entry() sets walk->action = ACTION_AGAIN, the pmd_none() check is retried.
Affected: Linux Kernel; Linux (debian) versions >= 38ec58670a0c5fc1edabdeccd857e586b7b3f318; bpftool6.18 (amazon), among others. The full list is in the CVE brief.
It is not listed in any known-exploited vulnerabilities catalog.
No, it is not currently listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.
No public exploit code is known.
Fixed versions are available, including bpftool6.18 1:6.18.51-120.162.amzn2023, Kernel 6.18.50, Kernel 7.2.4.
Brandefense priority: patch in the next maintenance window, because of its high severity, although no exploitation is known.
Is CVE-2026-89754 On Your Attack Surface?
Brandefense matches it against the products discovered on your perimeter and opens a finding the day a CVE like this is listed.
Request A Demo