CVE-2026-98505
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mm/damon/vaddr: avoid hw-driven pte updates during damon_hugetlb_mkold() damon_hugetlb_mkold() reads the page table entry into a local variable, unsets the accessed bit in the variable, and updates the page table entry with the updated variable value. If hardware updates the same page table entry in parallel, the hw updates could be lost. For example, hardware-updated dirty bits might be lost. Avoid the parallel updates by clearing the page table entry when reading it together, using huge_ptep_get_and_clear(). If a parallel write to the memory is made after the clearing, the hw will see the page table entry is cleared, trigger page fault and wait until it is handled. The page fault handling will wait for damon_hugetlb_mkold() due to the page table lock. Because hugetlbfs is an in-memory file system and hugetlb pages cannot be reclaimed, no critical issue is expected to my best knowledge. But definitely this is a nasty bug that should be fixed sooner rather than later. The issue was discovered [1] by Sashiko.
Affected versions
Linux kernel versions
5.17
and later are affected. Fixed in
6.12.112,
6.18.55,
7.2.9,
7.3
and their respective stable series.
References
4 totalFrequently asked questions
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What is CVE-2026-98505?
CVE-2026-98505 is a unscored severity Linux kernel vulnerability . It affects Linux kernel versions from 5.17 onward and has been patched in 6.12.112, 6.18.55, 7.2.9 and others. CVE-2026-98505 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-2026-98505?
Yes. CVE-2026-98505 has been patched. Fixed versions include 6.12.112, 6.18.55, 7.2.9 and others. If you are running Linux kernel 5.17 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.
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Is CVE-2026-98505 actively exploited?
No. CVE-2026-98505 has not been confirmed as actively exploited. It is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.