System hang via stale zero_vruntime tracking
Published May 8, 2026 · Updated May 8, 2026
Denial of service in affected Linux kernel sched/fair versions allows local users to hang systems through rapid task yielding. The runnable-task switch path calls __dequeue_entity() and __enqueue_entity() without advancing zero_vruntime, allowing two yielding tasks to leapfrog until the scheduling key overflows between tick updates. Reachability requires local low-privileged execution and sufficiently rapid repeated yields; the reported consequence is an availability-only system hang.
Summary
What happened
Denial of service in affected Linux kernel sched/fair versions allows local users to hang systems through rapid task yielding. The runnable-task switch path calls __dequeue_entity() and __enqueue_entity() without advancing zero_vruntime, allowing two yielding tasks to leapfrog until the scheduling key overflows between tick updates. Reachability requires local low-privileged execution and sufficiently rapid repeated yields; the reported consequence is an availability-only system hang.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-43323
- Published
- May 8, 2026
- Updated
- May 8, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux Kernel
- Classifications
- T1499
- 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
Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.
Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=6.12.78 <6.12.81
- Affected versionversion=6.18.17 <6.18.22
- Affected versionversion=6.19.7 <6.19.12
- Affected versionversion=978d4fe59665c13db692ba96839f9c52d69f13f3 <fb61ffb3fb30a161eb5404c27fc7635e275beafd
- Affected versionversion=99673934a89febe664e704550216638dcb2336a8 <87573883c30f1a8555ff720836bb6ea231058539
- Affected versionversion=b3d99f43c72b56cf7a104a364e7fb34b0702828b <1319ea57529e131822bab56bf417c8edc2db9ae8
- Affected versionversion=d2fc2dcfce47a56ffd414783003cc966c742c8a9 <c089147074ed96ff4330739a0559394c19a3dfc8
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.
Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.
Technologies
Your stack
See the directory against your own environment.
Your stack
Check the software in your environment
Book a demo to see how Hinoki identifies affected software and validates exploitability in your environment.
Book a demo