CVE-2026-68172

Kernel panic via unaligned hugetlb address handling

Published Aug 10, 2026 · Updated Aug 10, 2026

Out-of-range pointer access in Linux 6.16 allows local users to crash arm64 systems through unaligned hugetlb addresses. The huge_ptep_get helper can misclassify an unaligned contiguous PMD as contiguous PTEs, iterate beyond the PTE table, and dereference an invalid linear-map pointer. The affected path requires arm64 with 16K pages; reaching an unmapped address causes a kernel panic and service interruption.

CVSS severity5.5
Medium
EPSS probability0.16%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Out-of-range pointer access in Linux 6.16 allows local users to crash arm64 systems through unaligned hugetlb addresses. The huge_ptep_get helper can misclassify an unaligned contiguous PMD as contiguous PTEs, iterate beyond the PTE table, and dereference an invalid linear-map pointer. The affected path requires arm64 with 16K pages; reaching an unmapped address causes a kernel panic and service interruption.

The record

CVE
CVE-2026-68172
Published
Aug 10, 2026
Updated
Aug 10, 2026
Vendor
The Linux Kernel Organization
Product
Linux
Classifications
CWE-823, T1499
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Aug 10, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Aug 10, 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.

  1. Affected versionversion=29cb80519689706387bde47000dbb2ed91143063 <9cd4b1a52eff330798d668c1775f8bc450776280
  2. Affected versionversion=29cb80519689706387bde47000dbb2ed91143063 <f3530aec26563f4d483ff31402392961362e9bc6
  3. Affected versionversion=29cb80519689706387bde47000dbb2ed91143063 <f73a8edc2ccc6ec72c37d5c578e7592d2e1f9922
  4. Affected versionversion=6.16

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

The Linux Kernel Organization · Linuxversion=29cb80519689706387bde47000dbb2ed91143063 <9cd4b1a52eff330798d668c1775f8bc450776280; version=29cb80519689706387bde47000dbb2ed91143063 <f3530aec26563f4d483ff31402392961362e9bc6; version=29cb80519689706387bde47000dbb2ed91143063 <f73a8edc2ccc6ec72c37d5c578e7592d2e1f9922; version=6.16

Published CVSS scores

7.1CanonicalCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:H
5.5Red HatCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

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.

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No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-823Use of Out-of-range Pointer Offset
T1499Endpoint Denial of Service

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

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Your stack

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