Service interruption via display-timing refcount leak
Published May 6, 2026 · Updated May 6, 2026
A refcount leak in affected Linux Kernel releases starting with 3.9 allows local users to interrupt service via display timing parsing. The leak occurs when of_parse_phandle() increments the native_mode device-node reference and later parsing errors jump to entryfail without calling of_node_put(). Low-privilege local access is required; repeated triggering consumes kernel memory and interrupts service without disclosing or modifying data.
Summary
What happened
A refcount leak in affected Linux Kernel releases starting with 3.9 allows local users to interrupt service via display timing parsing. The leak occurs when of_parse_phandle() increments the native_mode device-node reference and later parsing errors jump to entryfail without calling of_node_put(). Low-privilege local access is required; repeated triggering consumes kernel memory and interrupts service without disclosing or modifying data.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-43264
- Published
- May 6, 2026
- Updated
- May 6, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux Kernel
- Classifications
- T1499
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- May 6, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- May 6, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=3.9
- Affected versionversion=cc3f414cf2e404130584b63d373161ba6fd24bc2 <20881ad42e651c69d89eb38a2042838187900fd6
- Affected versionversion=cc3f414cf2e404130584b63d373161ba6fd24bc2 <2b22e4fe1273c24f405ed7903349c4bbd82b6368
- Affected versionversion=cc3f414cf2e404130584b63d373161ba6fd24bc2 <3ed019654234edb8625c05d05e15d40f74e64f70
- Affected versionversion=cc3f414cf2e404130584b63d373161ba6fd24bc2 <69290f2d3999c5fa1a7f5d5593cfc5461fa3ee64
- Affected versionversion=cc3f414cf2e404130584b63d373161ba6fd24bc2 <b5bdcc5afbff845834d04d651773cb6b47db5dd3
- Affected versionversion=cc3f414cf2e404130584b63d373161ba6fd24bc2 <c5734f9030a8b1e13868d1641b5163d8e659306e
- Affected versionversion=cc3f414cf2e404130584b63d373161ba6fd24bc2 <d6f34bbff07476c6abb8672c89d217824871c5ed
- Affected versionversion=cc3f414cf2e404130584b63d373161ba6fd24bc2 <eacf9840ae1285a1ef47eb0ce16d786e542bd4d7
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
No public exploit references are available in this record.
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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