Local hugeTLB allocation denial via leaked accounting
Published May 8, 2026 · Updated May 8, 2026
Resource exhaustion in affected Linux kernel builds allows local users to make configured hugetlb subpools reject future page allocations. When hugetlb_acct_memory() cannot obtain globally requested pages, the failure path subtracts only reserved pages and leaves spool->used_hpages elevated. Repeated failed requests exhaust the configured subpool maximum; the failure affects hugeTLB availability without crashing the kernel or consuming pages.
Summary
What happened
Resource exhaustion in affected Linux kernel builds allows local users to make configured hugetlb subpools reject future page allocations. When hugetlb_acct_memory() cannot obtain globally requested pages, the failure path subtracts only reserved pages and leaves spool->used_hpages elevated. Repeated failed requests exhaust the configured subpool maximum; the failure affects hugeTLB availability without crashing the kernel or consuming pages.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-43286
- Published
- May 8, 2026
- Updated
- May 8, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux Kernel
- Classifications
- CWE-401, T1499.001
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- May 8, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- May 8, 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=6.15
- Affected versionversion=a833a693a490ecff8ba377654c6d4d333718b6b1 <1d3f9bb4c8af70304d19c22e30f5d16a2d589bb5
- Affected versionversion=a833a693a490ecff8ba377654c6d4d333718b6b1 <5eac1322a7b14b8cd05ec896618278b90fba7f39
- Affected versionversion=a833a693a490ecff8ba377654c6d4d333718b6b1 <f055897c975d079a90af873c791ab58cf0f6f2a5
- Affected versionversion=adb5c2e55524e3a96b02c3904b0bb6d5a5404d21
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
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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