Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2026-89966

medium Nessus Plugin ID 346508

Synopsis

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed with a vulnerability that the vendor indicates will not be patched.

Description

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed that are impacted by a vulnerability without a vendor supplied patch available.

- mm/hugetlb_cma: fix null nodemask dereference in hugetlb_cma_alloc_frozen_folio alloc_buddy_hugetlb_folio_with_mpol() can pass a NULL nodemask to alloc_fresh_hugetlb_folio() as a fallback to allocate from all nodes. If order is gigantic, alloc_fresh_hugetlb_folio() propagates the NULL nodemask down to hugetlb_cma_alloc_frozen_folio() via alloc_gigantic_frozen_folio(). Additionally, hugetlb_cma_alloc_frozen_folio() previously attempted allocation on hugetlb_cma[nid] without verifying if nid is included in the caller's nodemask. Adding a node_isset(nid, *nodemask) check ensures the initial preferred node allocation honors the memory policy / nodemask. However, hugetlb_cma_alloc_frozen_folio() dereferences the nodemask in node_isset(nid, *nodemask) and for_each_node_mask(node, *nodemask), leading to a null pointer dereference kernel panic when nodemask is NULL. Fix this by checking if nodemask is NULL in hugetlb_cma_alloc_frozen_folio() and defaulting it to cpuset_current_mems_allowed. Enclose the allocation attempts within the cpuset seqcount retry loop so that if the cpuset changes concurrently during allocation, the attempts are retried using the updated nodemask. This ensures that the initial node check and fallback loop safely honor the task's cpuset without violating cpuset constraints or causing NULL pointer dereferences or unexpected allocation failures. From a userspace perspective, this bug allows an unprivileged user to crash the kernel (trigger a panic) by requesting a gigantic hugepage allocation with MPOL_PREFERRED_MANY on a system where CMA is only configured on a subset of NUMA nodes. This can be reproduced by booting a VM with two NUMA nodes, restricting CMA to Node 1 (e.g., hugetlb_cma=1:1G default_hugepagesz=1G hugepagesz=1G hugepages=0), and running a program that allocates a 1GB hugepage area without reserving, restricts allocation to Node 0 using mbind() with MPOL_PREFERRED_MANY, and triggers a page fault: void *ptr = mmap(NULL, 1UL << 30, PROT_READ | PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE | MAP_ANONYMOUS | MAP_HUGETLB | MAP_HUGE_1GB | MAP_NORESERVE, -1, 0); unsigned long nodemask = 1; /* Node 0 */ mbind(ptr, 1UL << 30, MPOL_PREFERRED_MANY, &nodemask, sizeof(nodemask) * 8, 0); memset(ptr, 0, 1UL << 30); /* Trigger fault */ This results in a NULL pointer dereference: BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address:
0000000000000000 #PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode #PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present page Oops: Oops: 0000 [#1] SMP NOPTI RIP: 0010:hugetlb_cma_alloc_frozen_folio+0x75/0x120 Call Trace: <TASK> only_alloc_fresh_hugetlb_folio.isra.0+0x2c/0x160 alloc_surplus_hugetlb_folio+0x6d/0x100 alloc_hugetlb_folio+0x3c5/0x660 hugetlb_no_page+0x3d9/0x650 (CVE-2026-89966)

Note that Nessus relies on the presence of the package as reported by the vendor.

Solution

There is no known solution at this time.

Plugin Details

Severity: Medium

ID: 346508

File Name: unpatched_CVE_2026_89966.nasl

Version: 1.3

Type: Local

Agent: unix

Family: Misc.

Published: 9/16/2026

Updated: 9/18/2026

Supported Sensors: Frictionless Assessment AWS, Frictionless Assessment Azure, Frictionless Assessment Agent, Nessus Agent, Agentless Assessment, Tenable Cloud Security, Tenable Self-Hosted Container Security, Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Low

Score: 3

Percentile: 23.57

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 4.9

Temporal Score: 4.2

Vector: CVSS2#AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:C

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2026-89966

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 5.5

Temporal Score: 5.1

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Temporal Vector: CVSS:3.0/E:U/RL:U/RC:C

Vulnerability Information

CPE: cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:16.04:-:lts, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:18.04:-:lts, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:20.04:-:lts, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:22.04:-:lts, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:24.04:-:lts, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:26.04:-:lts, cpe:/o:debian:debian_linux:14.0, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-allwinner-5.19, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-aws-5.0, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-aws-5.11, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-aws-5.13, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-aws-5.19, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-aws-5.3, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-aws-5.8, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-aws-6.14, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-aws-6.17, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-aws-6.2, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-aws-6.5, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-aws-7.0, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-aws, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-5.11, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-5.13, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-5.19, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-5.3, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-5.8, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-6.11, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-6.14, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-6.17, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-6.2, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-6.5, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-7.0, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-edge, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-fde-5.19, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-fde-6.14, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-fde-6.17, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-fde-6.2, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-fde-6.8, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-fde-7.0, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-fde, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-nvidia-6.14, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gcp-5.11, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gcp-5.13, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gcp-5.19, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gcp-5.3, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gcp-5.8, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gcp-6.11, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gcp-6.14, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gcp-6.17, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gcp-6.2, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gcp-6.5, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gcp-7.0, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gcp, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gke-4.15, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gke-5.15, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gke-5.4, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gke, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gkeop-5.15, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gkeop-5.4, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gkeop, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-hwe-5.11, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-hwe-5.13, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-hwe-5.19, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-hwe-5.8, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-hwe-6.11, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-hwe-6.14, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-hwe-6.2, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-hwe-6.5, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-hwe-7.0, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-hwe-edge, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-hwe, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-ibm, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-intel-5.13, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-intel-iot-realtime, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-lowlatency-hwe-5.19, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.11, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.2, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.5, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-nvidia-6.11, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-nvidia-6.17, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-nvidia-6.2, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-nvidia-6.5, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-nvidia-7.0, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-nvidia-bos, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-nvidia, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oem-5.10, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oem-5.13, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oem-5.14, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oem-5.17, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oem-5.6, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oem-6.0, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oem-6.11, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oem-6.14, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oem-6.1, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oem-6.5, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oem-6.8, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oem-7.0, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oem, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oracle-5.0, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oracle-5.11, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oracle-5.13, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oracle-5.3, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oracle-5.8, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oracle-6.14, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oracle-6.17, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oracle-6.5, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oracle-7.0, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oracle, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-raspi-realtime, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-raspi2, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-raspi, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-realtime, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-riscv-5.11, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-riscv-5.19, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-riscv-5.8, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-riscv-6.14, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-riscv-6.17, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-riscv-6.5, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-riscv-7.0, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-riscv, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-starfive-5.19, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-starfive-6.2, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-starfive-6.5, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux, p-cpe:/a:debian:debian_linux:linux

Required KB Items: Host/local_checks_enabled, Host/cpu, global_settings/vendor_unpatched, Host/OS/identifier

Exploit Ease: No known exploits are available

Vulnerability Publication Date: 9/16/2026

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2026-89966

Detections

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