CVE-2026-43286 (GCVE-0-2026-43286)
Vulnerability from cvelistv5 – Published: 2026-05-08 13:11 – Updated: 2026-05-08 13:11
VLAI?
Title
mm/hugetlb: restore failed global reservations to subpool
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
mm/hugetlb: restore failed global reservations to subpool
Commit a833a693a490 ("mm: hugetlb: fix incorrect fallback for subpool")
fixed an underflow error for hstate->resv_huge_pages caused by incorrectly
attributing globally requested pages to the subpool's reservation.
Unfortunately, this fix also introduced the opposite problem, which would
leave spool->used_hpages elevated if the globally requested pages could
not be acquired. This is because while a subpool's reserve pages only
accounts for what is requested and allocated from the subpool, its "used"
counter keeps track of what is consumed in total, both from the subpool
and globally. Thus, we need to adjust spool->used_hpages in the other
direction, and make sure that globally requested pages are uncharged from
the subpool's used counter.
Each failed allocation attempt increments the used_hpages counter by how
many pages were requested from the global pool. Ultimately, this renders
the subpool unusable, as used_hpages approaches the max limit.
The issue can be reproduced as follows:
1. Allocate 4 hugetlb pages
2. Create a hugetlb mount with max=4, min=2
3. Consume 2 pages globally
4. Request 3 pages from the subpool (2 from subpool + 1 from global)
4.1 hugepage_subpool_get_pages(spool, 3) succeeds.
used_hpages += 3
4.2 hugetlb_acct_memory(h, 1) fails: no global pages left
used_hpages -= 2
5. Subpool now has used_hpages = 1, despite not being able to
successfully allocate any hugepages. It believes it can now only
allocate 3 more hugepages, not 4.
With each failed allocation attempt incrementing the used counter, the
subpool eventually reaches a point where its used counter equals its
max counter. At that point, any future allocations that try to
allocate hugeTLB pages from the subpool will fail, despite the subpool
not having any of its hugeTLB pages consumed by any user.
Once this happens, there is no way to make the subpool usable again,
since there is no way to decrement the used counter as no process is
really consuming the hugeTLB pages.
The underflow issue that the original commit fixes still remains fixed
as well.
Without this fix, used_hpages would keep on leaking if
hugetlb_acct_memory() fails.
Severity ?
No CVSS data available.
Assigner
References
Impacted products
| Vendor | Product | Version | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Linux | Linux |
Affected:
a833a693a490ecff8ba377654c6d4d333718b6b1 , < 5eac1322a7b14b8cd05ec896618278b90fba7f39
(git)
Affected: a833a693a490ecff8ba377654c6d4d333718b6b1 , < f055897c975d079a90af873c791ab58cf0f6f2a5 (git) Affected: a833a693a490ecff8ba377654c6d4d333718b6b1 , < 1d3f9bb4c8af70304d19c22e30f5d16a2d589bb5 (git) Affected: adb5c2e55524e3a96b02c3904b0bb6d5a5404d21 (git) |
||
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"version": "6.19.6",
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{
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"status": "unaffected",
"version": "7.0",
"versionType": "original_commit_for_fix"
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"descriptions": [
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"lang": "en",
"value": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nmm/hugetlb: restore failed global reservations to subpool\n\nCommit a833a693a490 (\"mm: hugetlb: fix incorrect fallback for subpool\")\nfixed an underflow error for hstate-\u003eresv_huge_pages caused by incorrectly\nattributing globally requested pages to the subpool\u0027s reservation.\n\nUnfortunately, this fix also introduced the opposite problem, which would\nleave spool-\u003eused_hpages elevated if the globally requested pages could\nnot be acquired. This is because while a subpool\u0027s reserve pages only\naccounts for what is requested and allocated from the subpool, its \"used\"\ncounter keeps track of what is consumed in total, both from the subpool\nand globally. Thus, we need to adjust spool-\u003eused_hpages in the other\ndirection, and make sure that globally requested pages are uncharged from\nthe subpool\u0027s used counter.\n\nEach failed allocation attempt increments the used_hpages counter by how\nmany pages were requested from the global pool. Ultimately, this renders\nthe subpool unusable, as used_hpages approaches the max limit.\n\nThe issue can be reproduced as follows:\n1. Allocate 4 hugetlb pages\n2. Create a hugetlb mount with max=4, min=2\n3. Consume 2 pages globally\n4. Request 3 pages from the subpool (2 from subpool + 1 from global)\n\t4.1 hugepage_subpool_get_pages(spool, 3) succeeds.\n\t\tused_hpages += 3\n\t4.2 hugetlb_acct_memory(h, 1) fails: no global pages left\n\t\tused_hpages -= 2\n5. Subpool now has used_hpages = 1, despite not being able to\n successfully allocate any hugepages. It believes it can now only\n allocate 3 more hugepages, not 4.\n\nWith each failed allocation attempt incrementing the used counter, the\nsubpool eventually reaches a point where its used counter equals its\nmax counter. At that point, any future allocations that try to\nallocate hugeTLB pages from the subpool will fail, despite the subpool\nnot having any of its hugeTLB pages consumed by any user.\n\nOnce this happens, there is no way to make the subpool usable again,\nsince there is no way to decrement the used counter as no process is\nreally consuming the hugeTLB pages.\n\nThe underflow issue that the original commit fixes still remains fixed\nas well.\n\nWithout this fix, used_hpages would keep on leaking if\nhugetlb_acct_memory() fails."
}
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"dateUpdated": "2026-05-08T13:11:11.867Z",
"orgId": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
"shortName": "Linux"
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"url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5eac1322a7b14b8cd05ec896618278b90fba7f39"
},
{
"url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f055897c975d079a90af873c791ab58cf0f6f2a5"
},
{
"url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1d3f9bb4c8af70304d19c22e30f5d16a2d589bb5"
}
],
"title": "mm/hugetlb: restore failed global reservations to subpool",
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"cveId": "CVE-2026-43286",
"datePublished": "2026-05-08T13:11:11.867Z",
"dateReserved": "2026-05-01T14:12:55.999Z",
"dateUpdated": "2026-05-08T13:11:11.867Z",
"state": "PUBLISHED"
},
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"nvd": "{\"cve\":{\"id\":\"CVE-2026-43286\",\"sourceIdentifier\":\"416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67\",\"published\":\"2026-05-08T14:16:35.473\",\"lastModified\":\"2026-05-08T14:16:35.473\",\"vulnStatus\":\"Received\",\"cveTags\":[],\"descriptions\":[{\"lang\":\"en\",\"value\":\"In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\\n\\nmm/hugetlb: restore failed global reservations to subpool\\n\\nCommit a833a693a490 (\\\"mm: hugetlb: fix incorrect fallback for subpool\\\")\\nfixed an underflow error for hstate-\u003eresv_huge_pages caused by incorrectly\\nattributing globally requested pages to the subpool\u0027s reservation.\\n\\nUnfortunately, this fix also introduced the opposite problem, which would\\nleave spool-\u003eused_hpages elevated if the globally requested pages could\\nnot be acquired. This is because while a subpool\u0027s reserve pages only\\naccounts for what is requested and allocated from the subpool, its \\\"used\\\"\\ncounter keeps track of what is consumed in total, both from the subpool\\nand globally. Thus, we need to adjust spool-\u003eused_hpages in the other\\ndirection, and make sure that globally requested pages are uncharged from\\nthe subpool\u0027s used counter.\\n\\nEach failed allocation attempt increments the used_hpages counter by how\\nmany pages were requested from the global pool. Ultimately, this renders\\nthe subpool unusable, as used_hpages approaches the max limit.\\n\\nThe issue can be reproduced as follows:\\n1. Allocate 4 hugetlb pages\\n2. Create a hugetlb mount with max=4, min=2\\n3. Consume 2 pages globally\\n4. Request 3 pages from the subpool (2 from subpool + 1 from global)\\n\\t4.1 hugepage_subpool_get_pages(spool, 3) succeeds.\\n\\t\\tused_hpages += 3\\n\\t4.2 hugetlb_acct_memory(h, 1) fails: no global pages left\\n\\t\\tused_hpages -= 2\\n5. Subpool now has used_hpages = 1, despite not being able to\\n successfully allocate any hugepages. It believes it can now only\\n allocate 3 more hugepages, not 4.\\n\\nWith each failed allocation attempt incrementing the used counter, the\\nsubpool eventually reaches a point where its used counter equals its\\nmax counter. At that point, any future allocations that try to\\nallocate hugeTLB pages from the subpool will fail, despite the subpool\\nnot having any of its hugeTLB pages consumed by any user.\\n\\nOnce this happens, there is no way to make the subpool usable again,\\nsince there is no way to decrement the used counter as no process is\\nreally consuming the hugeTLB pages.\\n\\nThe underflow issue that the original commit fixes still remains fixed\\nas well.\\n\\nWithout this fix, used_hpages would keep on leaking if\\nhugetlb_acct_memory() fails.\"}],\"metrics\":{},\"references\":[{\"url\":\"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1d3f9bb4c8af70304d19c22e30f5d16a2d589bb5\",\"source\":\"416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67\"},{\"url\":\"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5eac1322a7b14b8cd05ec896618278b90fba7f39\",\"source\":\"416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67\"},{\"url\":\"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f055897c975d079a90af873c791ab58cf0f6f2a5\",\"source\":\"416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67\"}]}}"
}
}
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Forecast uses a logistic model when the trend is rising, or an exponential decay model when the trend is falling. Fitted via linearized least squares.
Sightings
| Author | Source | Type | Date | Other |
|---|
Nomenclature
- Seen: The vulnerability was mentioned, discussed, or observed by the user.
- Confirmed: The vulnerability has been validated from an analyst's perspective.
- Published Proof of Concept: A public proof of concept is available for this vulnerability.
- Exploited: The vulnerability was observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
- Patched: The vulnerability was observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.
- Not exploited: The vulnerability was not observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
- Not confirmed: The user expressed doubt about the validity of the vulnerability.
- Not patched: The vulnerability was not observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.
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