CVE-2026-93253

sched/isolation: Defer freeing of cpumask memblock memory to initcall

Published Sep 24, 2026 CVSS n/a EPSS < 1% KEV · Not listed
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

sched/isolation: Defer freeing of cpumask memblock memory to initcall

When testing a linux-next kernel with commit 59bd1d914bb5 ("memblock:
warn when freeing reserved memory before memory map is initialized"),
the following warning was hit when there was a "nohz_full" kernel boot
parameter.

Cannot free reserved memory because of deferred initialization of the memory map
WARNING: mm/memblock.c:904 at __free_reserved_area+0xde/0xf0, CPU#0: swapper/0/0
:
Call Trace:
<TASK>
memblock_phys_free+0xcb/0x100
housekeeping_init+0x14c/0x170
start_kernel+0x207/0x450
x86_64_start_reservations+0x24/0x30
x86_64_start_kernel+0xda/0xe0
common_startup_64+0x13e/0x141
</TASK>

IOW, we shouldn't free memblock allocated memory so early
in the boot process when memory map isn't fully initialized in
deferred_init_memmap().

Fix it by saving the housekeeping cpumask memblock memory to be
freed into a llist free list in housekeeping_init() and add a new
housekeeping_late_init() helper to defer the actual freeing of memblock
memory to when initcall's are being processed. The cpumask memblock
memory is treated as a llist_node with the size of a "long" type which
is also smallest cpumask size that can be allocated.

The non-atomic version of the llist APIs are used as there is no
contention.

This commit depends on the presence of commit 7c2eee9c1367 ("memblock:
don't touch memblock arrays when memblock_free() is called late")
to prevent a KASAN UAF bug report [1].

[1] https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20260505051821.1107133-1-longman@redhat.com/

Remediation

No solution or workaround provided in the CVE record

Tracking

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Advisories

Source ID Title
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-9019-1 Linux kernel (Azure) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-9020-1 Linux kernel vulnerabilities
History
Type Values Removed Values Added
Weaknesses CWE-416
Type Values Removed Values Added
Description In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: sched/isolation: Defer freeing of cpumask memblock memory to initcall When testing a linux-next kernel with commit 59bd1d914bb5 ("memblock: warn when freeing reserved memory before memory map is initialized"), the following warning was hit when there was a "nohz_full" kernel boot parameter. Cannot free reserved memory because of deferred initialization of the memory map WARNING: mm/memblock.c:904 at __free_reserved_area+0xde/0xf0, CPU#0: swapper/0/0 : Call Trace: <TASK> memblock_phys_free+0xcb/0x100 housekeeping_init+0x14c/0x170 start_kernel+0x207/0x450 x86_64_start_reservations+0x24/0x30 x86_64_start_kernel+0xda/0xe0 common_startup_64+0x13e/0x141 </TASK> IOW, we shouldn't free memblock allocated memory so early in the boot process when memory map isn't fully initialized in deferred_init_memmap(). Fix it by saving the housekeeping cpumask memblock memory to be freed into a llist free list in housekeeping_init() and add a new housekeeping_late_init() helper to defer the actual freeing of memblock memory to when initcall's are being processed. The cpumask memblock memory is treated as a llist_node with the size of a "long" type which is also smallest cpumask size that can be allocated. The non-atomic version of the llist APIs are used as there is no contention. This commit depends on the presence of commit 7c2eee9c1367 ("memblock: don't touch memblock arrays when memblock_free() is called late") to prevent a KASAN UAF bug report [1]. [1] https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20260505051821.1107133-1-longman@redhat.com/
Title sched/isolation: Defer freeing of cpumask memblock memory to initcall
First Time appeared Linux
Linux linux Kernel
CPEs cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
Vendors & Products Linux
Linux linux Kernel
References
Weaknesses

Sources

Status
PUBLISHED
Assigner
Linux
Published
Updated
Oct 19, 2026, 9:08 AM
Reserved
Sep 17, 2026, 4:02 PM
Status
Received
Published
Sep 24, 2026, 4:17 PM
Modified
Oct 19, 2026, 10:17 AM