CVE-2026-45968
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: cpuidle: Skip governor when only one idle state is available On certain platforms (PowerNV systems without a power-mgt DT node), cpuidle may register only a single idle state. In cases where that single state is a polling state (state 0), the ladder governor may incorrectly treat state 1 as the first usable state and pass an out-of-bounds index. This can lead to a NULL enter callback being invoked, ultimately resulting in a system crash. [ 13.342636] cpuidle-powernv : Only Snooze is available [ 13.351854] Faulting instruction address: 0x00000000 [ 13.376489] NIP [0000000000000000] 0x0 [ 13.378351] LR [c000000001e01974] cpuidle_enter_state+0x2c4/0x668 Fix this by adding a bail-out in cpuidle_select() that returns state 0 directly when state_count <= 1, bypassing the governor and keeping the tick running.
Affected versions
Linux kernel versions
4.14
and later are affected. Fixed in
5.10.252,
5.15.202,
6.1.165,
6.6.128,
6.12.75,
6.18.14,
6.19.4,
7.0
and their respective stable series.
References
The following references provide additional information about CVE-2026-45968 including vendor advisories, patch commits, exploit details, and third-party analysis. Links are sourced from the NIST NVD database.
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PatchKernel patch commithttps://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4da2b897283c39980d6ae09dc1560fcd937879e5
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PatchKernel patch commithttps://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5c577ac939bca486cb02069505cfe47a5312ce02
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PatchKernel patch commithttps://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5d103a38e2ae96eca57fd17161bcd29bd4622d1c
Frequently asked questions
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What is CVE-2026-45968?
CVE-2026-45968 is a unscored severity Linux kernel vulnerability . It affects Linux kernel versions from 4.14 onward and has been patched in 5.10.252, 5.15.202, 6.1.165 and others. CVE-2026-45968 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
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Is there a patch available for CVE-2026-45968?
Yes — CVE-2026-45968 has been patched. Fixed versions include 5.10.252, 5.15.202, 6.1.165 and others. If you are running Linux kernel 4.14 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.
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Is CVE-2026-45968 actively exploited?
No — CVE-2026-45968 has not been confirmed as actively exploited. It is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.