Linux Kernel CVE-2026-43487

Two hardware and configuration conditions must be simultaneously present: the affected host must contain a Seagate ST1000DM010-2EP102 hard drive physically connected via SATA/AHCI, and the Linux kernel must have SATA Link Power Management enabled (the default in most mainstream distributions). The freeze is initiated autonomously by the kernel's own power management scheduler - no user interaction, network access, or privilege escalation by any party is required. Exploitation is strictly bounded by physical hardware: only machines containing this exact drive model are vulnerable, and the impact is confined entirely to the local host (S:U, scope unchanged). Administrators can eliminate the condition by disabling LPM via kernel boot parameters or by applying the upstream patch, either of which breaks the trigger chain.

Real-world risk is operationally significant for affected hardware but negligible from an adversarial security perspective. The CVSS 3.1 score of 5.5 (AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H) correctly characterizes this as a local availability-only impact - no confidentiality or integrity consequences apply. The 'Information Disclosure' tag present in the intelligence data is inconsistent with the CVSS vector (C:N) and the CVE description; it appears to be a metadata tagging error and should not inform risk decisions. EPSS at 0.02% (5th percentile) confirms negligible exploitation probability, and absence from CISA KEV means no confirmed adversarial use. This vulnerability requires no attacker action - it triggers spontaneously during normal kernel power management cycles on any system housing the specific drive. Risk is therefore entirely bounded by hardware prevalence: only machines containing the ST1000DM010-2EP102 are at risk, and impact is confined to the local host (S:U). A high-CVSS-but-low-real-security-risk assessment applies here.

A Linux server or workstation is deployed with a Seagate ST1000DM010-2EP102 BarraCuda drive on an unpatched kernel. During normal operation, libata-core activates SATA LPM and the drive transitions to a low-power sleep state; the drive firmware fails to execute the wake sequence correctly, causing libata to issue repeated command timeouts. The timeout cascade halts I/O for all processes on the system until the kernel becomes completely unresponsive, requiring a hard power cycle with potential data loss on uncommitted writes. No attacker action or external network request is involved.