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Linux Kernel EUVDEUVD-2026-59711

| CVE-2026-74518 HIGH
2026-08-15 Linux GHSA-9v2f-674j-mrjw
7.8
CVSS 3.1 · Vendor: Linux
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Severity by source

Vendor (Linux) PRIMARY
7.8 HIGH
AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
vuln.today AI
7.0 HIGH

Race condition requires concurrent MAP_SHARED region operations on a shared resv_map, making AC:H more accurate than the NVD-assigned AC:L; PR:L reflects required low-privilege access to create or share the hugetlbfs mapping.

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

Primary rating from Vendor (Linux).

CVSS VectorVendor: Linux

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Attack Vector
Local
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
Low
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

Lifecycle Timeline

5
Analysis Generated
Aug 17, 2026 - 12:03 vuln.today
CVSS changed
Aug 17, 2026 - 06:22 NVD
7.8 (HIGH)
Patch available
Aug 15, 2026 - 13:04 EUVD
CVE Published
Aug 15, 2026 - 12:27 cve.org
UNKNOWN (no severity yet)
CVE Published
Aug 15, 2026 - 12:27 cve.org
HIGH 7.8

DescriptionCVE.org

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

mm/hugetlb: fix list corruption in allocate_file_region_entries()

allocate_file_region_entries() tops up resv->region_cache with freshly allocated file_region descriptors. The allocation uses GFP_KERNEL, so resv->lock is dropped around it: the new entries are gathered on a stack-local list head, allocated_regions, and spliced into resv->region_cache once the lock is re-acquired.

The splice used list_splice(), which moves the entries but does not re-initialize the source head, so allocated_regions is left pointing at an entry that now lives on resv->region_cache. The top-up runs in a while loop that re-checks the cache deficit after re-acquiring the lock. For a shared mapping the resv_map is shared by every mapper of the hugetlbfs inode, so a concurrent region_chg()/region_add()/region_del() on the same resv_map can consume cache entries during the unlocked window and force a second iteration. That iteration calls list_add() on the stale head and corrupts the list; with CONFIG_DEBUG_LIST the __list_add_valid() check trips:

list_add corruption. next->prev should be prev (ffffc900011ff7f8), but was ffff88814c281460. (next=ffff88814c545640). kernel BUG at lib/list_debug.c:31! allocate_file_region_entries+0x191/0x420 region_chg+0x267/0x300 hugetlb_reserve_pages+0x387/0xc80 hugetlbfs_file_mmap+0x2ce/0x3f0 mmap_region+0x1348/0x1a80 do_mmap+0x85e/0xb90 vm_mmap_pgoff+0x18c/0x330 ksys_mmap_pgoff+0x2a1/0x3e0 do_syscall_64+0xd7/0x420

Without CONFIG_DEBUG_LIST the bad list_add() silently links a kernel-stack address into resv->region_cache, leading to later use-after-free.

This was observed as a real host panic on a dense KVM host where a QEMU guest-RAM hugetlbfs file was mapped MAP_SHARED by both QEMU and a separate SPDK/DPDK vhost-user target, generating concurrent region_* traffic on one shared resv_map.

Use list_splice_init() so the source head is re-initialized empty after each splice, making the retry loop safe.

AnalysisAI

List corruption in the Linux kernel's hugetlb memory management subsystem (mm/hugetlb) allows a local low-privileged attacker to trigger kernel memory corruption, potentially achieving privilege escalation or host crash. The flaw was confirmed as causing real-world KVM host panics in dense virtualization environments where QEMU and SPDK/DPDK vhost-user processes share a hugetlbfs MAP_SHARED mapping; with CONFIG_DEBUG_LIST disabled, the corruption silently embeds a kernel stack address into an active cache list, setting up a use-after-free. …

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Attack ChainAIDerived

Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata

Recon
Local access to KVM host
Delivery
Map hugetlbfs file MAP_SHARED
Exploit
Trigger concurrent region operations from second process
Install
Race window drains region_cache
C2
list_add on stale head corrupts kernel list
Execute
Kernel BUG or silent use-after-free
Impact
Privilege escalation or host crash

Vulnerability AssessmentAI

Exploitation Exploitation requires a hugetlbfs file mapped MAP_SHARED by at least two processes that concurrently perform hugetlb reservation operations (`region_chg()`, `region_add()`, or `region_del()`) on the same inode's shared `resv_map`. … Additional conditions and limiting factors are described in the full assessment.
Risk Assessment The NVD CVSS 7.8 vector (AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H) reflects local exploitation with high impact across all three dimensions, but the AC:L assignment is arguably optimistic - triggering the race requires concurrent region operations from a second process on the same shared resv_map, a timing dependency more accurately modeled as AC:H, which reduces the realistic exploitability compared to the headline score. … Full risk analysis with EPSS, KEV, and SSVC signal comparison available after sign-in.
Exploit Scenario On a KVM virtualization host, a low-privileged process acting as a SPDK/DPDK vhost-user backend maps the same hugetlbfs file as a QEMU process via MAP_SHARED, creating a shared resv_map. Both processes generate concurrent hugetlb reservation operations; when this concurrent activity drains the region cache during the unlocked GFP_KERNEL allocation window inside `allocate_file_region_entries()`, the retry loop calls `list_add()` on the stale `allocated_regions` head, corrupting the kernel doubly-linked list. …
Remediation The primary fix is upgrading to a patched kernel release: 6.18.44, 6.12.103, or 6.6.151 for those LTS branches, or 7.1.8 and 7.2-rc6 for the 7.x series; patch commits are available at https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ac1bb7fd45088d0db57a22ce7729f258ebd63cf5 and sibling commits for each branch. … Detailed patch versions, workarounds, and compensating controls in full report.

Recommended ActionAI

Within 24 hours, audit your infrastructure inventory to identify all production Linux systems running KVM hosts with hugetlbfs-dependent applications (QEMU, SPDK, DPDK processes); prioritize dense virtualization environments. …

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Vendor StatusVendor

SUSE

Severity: Important
Product Status
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP7 Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP7 Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP7 Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP7 Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 16.0 Affected

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EUVD-2026-59711 vulnerability details – vuln.today

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