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Linux Kernel CVE-2026-46284

| EUVDEUVD-2026-35149 MEDIUM
NULL Pointer Dereference (CWE-476)
2026-06-08 Linux GHSA-wf92-393r-9p92
Linux Denial Of Service Null Pointer Dereference Red Hat Suse
5.5
CVSS 3.1 · NVD
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Severity by source

NVD PRIMARY
5.5 MEDIUM
AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
vuln.today AI
4.4 MEDIUM

Modifying kernel boot parameters realistically requires root or physical bootloader access (PR:H); no confidentiality or integrity impact applies.

3.1 AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
4.0 AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:H/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
SUSE
MEDIUM
qualitative
Red Hat
5.5 LOW
qualitative

Primary rating from NVD.

CVSS VectorNVD

Attack Vector
Local
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
Low
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

Lifecycle Timeline

5
Analysis Generated
Jul 08, 2026 - 22:30 vuln.today
CVSS changed
Jul 08, 2026 - 21:37 NVD
5.5 (MEDIUM)
Patch available
Jun 08, 2026 - 18:01 EUVD
CVE Published
Jun 08, 2026 - 15:41 nvd
MEDIUM 5.5
CVE Published
Jun 08, 2026 - 15:41 nvd
UNKNOWN (no severity yet)

DescriptionNVD

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

mm/hugetlb: fix early boot crash on parameters without '=' separator

If hugepages, hugepagesz, or default_hugepagesz are specified on the kernel command line without the '=' separator, early parameter parsing passes NULL to hugetlb_add_param(), which dereferences it in strlen() and can crash the system during early boot.

Reject NULL values in hugetlb_add_param() and return -EINVAL instead.

AnalysisAI

NULL pointer dereference in the Linux kernel's HugeTLB early boot parameter parser causes a system crash before the OS fully initializes. Specifically, hugetlb_add_param() in mm/hugetlb dereferences a NULL pointer via strlen() when hugepages, hugepagesz, or default_hugepagesz kernel command line parameters are supplied without a '=' separator, producing a boot-time kernel panic. The impact is a complete denial of service - the system fails to boot until the malformed parameter is corrected. No public exploit or CISA KEV listing exists; EPSS stands at 0.02% (5th percentile), reflecting very low observed exploitation activity. Patches are available in Linux 6.18.27, 7.0.4, and 7.1-rc1, with Ubuntu distributing fixes via USN-8489-1 and USN-8488-1.

Technical ContextAI

The vulnerability is rooted in CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference) within the Linux kernel memory management subsystem, specifically the HugeTLB facility (mm/hugetlb). HugeTLB manages large memory pages and is configurable via kernel command line parameters (hugepages=, hugepagesz=, default_hugepagesz=). During early boot, the kernel's parameter parsing infrastructure invokes registered handlers for each recognized parameter. If any of these three parameters appear on the command line without a '=' separator, the parser passes NULL as the value argument to hugetlb_add_param(). The function lacks a NULL guard and immediately passes this pointer to strlen(), which dereferences it unconditionally, triggering a NULL pointer dereference. The fix - adding an explicit NULL check returning -EINVAL - is minimal and targeted. Affected CPE: cpe:2.3:a:linux:linux:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* spanning kernel commits from 5b47c02967ab770aa7661c8863a21b2fd59e35ff through multiple stable branches.

RemediationAI

Update to Linux kernel 6.18.27 or 7.0.4 (stable series) or 7.1-rc1 (mainline), which contain the NULL guard fix in hugetlb_add_param(). The upstream patches are available at https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2774bcf714739cc6bb86f8812167bb9fbda70f6a, https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/357c6d084b6137ae640209c5bfd01180f985c015, and https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c45b354911d01565156e38d7f6bc07edb51fc34c. Ubuntu users should apply packages from USN-8489-1 or USN-8488-1 (https://ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-8489-1). As a configuration-level workaround prior to patching, audit all GRUB, PXE, and cloud instance bootloader configurations to ensure that any hugepages-related parameters are always specified with the '=' separator (e.g., hugepages=0 rather than bare hugepages); this eliminates the NULL-value code path without requiring a kernel update. This workaround is low-risk but requires systematic review of all boot configuration entry points and does not protect against future inadvertent omission of the separator.

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Vendor StatusVendor

SUSE

Severity: Moderate
Product Status
openSUSE Tumbleweed Fixed
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP7 Not-Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP7 Not-Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP7 Not-Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP7 Not-Affected

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CVE-2026-46284 vulnerability details – vuln.today
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