CVE-2026-97905

CVE Details

Release Date:	2026-09-25
Impact:	Moderate	What is this?

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: cpufreq: zero-initialize policy cpumask before sysfs publication cpufreq_policy_alloc() allocates policy->cpus with alloc_cpumask_var(), i.e. without __GFP_ZERO, unlike the sibling related_cpus and real_cpus masks. With CONFIG_CPUMASK_OFFSTACK=y the mask is a separate kmalloc_node() allocation, so its bitmap holds whatever the slab allocator left behind: cpufreq_online() cpufreq_policy_alloc() alloc_cpumask_var(&policy->cpus) /* bitmap is uninitialized */ kobject_init_and_add() /* policy%u/ appears in sysfs */ cpufreq_policy_online() cpumask_copy(policy->cpus, cpumask_of(cpu)) /* first valid value */ This leaves a window in which the sysfs attributes are already reachable while policy->cpus is still garbage. show()/store() gate on policy_is_inactive(), i.e. cpumask_empty(policy->cpus), so a non-zero bitmap makes them run the attribute callbacks on a policy that is not initialized yet. Fix this by using zalloc_cpumask_var() for policy->cpus.

See more information about CVE-2026-97905 from MITRE CVE dictionary and NIST NVD

NOTE: The following CVSS metrics and score provided are preliminary and subject to review.

CVSS v3 metrics

Base Score:	3.6
Vector String:	CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N
Version:	3.1
Attack Vector:	Local
Attack Complexity:	High
Privileges Required:	Low
User Interaction:	None
Scope:	Unchanged
Confidentiality Impact:	Low
Integrity Impact:	Low
Availability Impact:	None

Errata information

Platform	Errata	Release Date
Oracle Linux version 9 (kernel-uek)	ELSA-2026-500374	2026-10-07