{"id":"CVE-2026-72172","title":"In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nmm/mm_init: fix uninitialized struct pages for ZONE_DEVICE\n\nIf DAX memory is hotplugged into an unoccupied subsection of an early\nsection, section_activate() reuses the…","summary":"In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nmm/mm_init: fix uninitialized struct pages for ZONE_DEVICE\n\nIf DAX memory is hotplugged into an unoccupied subsection of an early\nsection, section_activate() reuses the…","severity":"high","cvss":7.8,"cvssVector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H","cwe":["CWE-457"],"vendor":"Red Hat","product":"Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9","affected":["enterprise_linux 10","enterprise_linux 6","enterprise_linux 9"],"published":"2026-08-15","updated":"2026-10-16","sourceUpdated":"2026-10-16T19:17:12.963","source":"NVD","sourceUrl":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-72172","references":[{"url":"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/11f2826e9ee6f24aaa774e3dcd75abbe4b3091b6","label":"416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67"},{"url":"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/511a60e71aec308b24722cffc1912bf6befb87bf","label":"416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67"},{"url":"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b91e27bce37cab9f35de0059278ebe457ca9878b","label":"416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67"},{"url":"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c5ef574d57e4a701485c13f26822328c91f05413","label":"416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67"},{"url":"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/cd681403a87085562499d60325b7b45d3be11217","label":"416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67"},{"url":"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/da5234df0941665f3a3f5b80f3dab94046537be0","label":"416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67"},{"url":"https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-72172.json"},{"url":"https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-72172"},{"url":"https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2516567"},{"url":"https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-72172"},{"url":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-72172"},{"url":"https://kernelcve.org/list/?q=CVE-2026-72172"},{"url":"https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/2026081538-CVE-2026-72172-c8f2@gregkh/T"}],"tags":["nvd","csaf","vex","red-hat","cve.org","score-dispute"],"epss":0.00169,"epssPercentile":0.06193,"ssvc":{"exploitation":"none","automatable":"no","technicalImpact":"total","timestamp":"2026-10-16T18:43:19.574652Z"},"scores":{"nvd":7.8,"vendor":5.5,"cna":7.8},"ingestedAt":"2026-10-16T19:46:24.424Z","slug":"CVE-2026-72172","body":"## Overview\n\nIn the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nmm/mm_init: fix uninitialized struct pages for ZONE_DEVICE\n\nIf DAX memory is hotplugged into an unoccupied subsection of an early\nsection, section_activate() reuses the unoptimized boot memmap.  However,\ncompound_nr_pages() still assumes that vmemmap optimization is in effect\nand initializes only the reduced number of struct pages.  As a result, the\nremaining tail struct pages are left uninitialized, which can later lead\nto unexpected behavior or crashes.\n\nFix this by treating early sections as unoptimized when calculating how\nmany struct pages to initialize.\n\n## Remediation\n\nRefer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.\n\n## Vendor advisories\n\n- **Red Hat VEX** · Moderate · affected: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 · no fix planned: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 · updated 2026-10-26 · [vex](https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-72172.json)","depth":"twilight","depthScore":43,"depthScoreParts":{"impact":42.9,"likelihood":0,"exploitation":0,"ransomware":0},"changes":[{"seq":230268,"id":"CVE-2026-72172","ts":1793130912612,"field":"cvss","old":"5.5","new":"7.8"},{"seq":230267,"id":"CVE-2026-72172","ts":1793130912612,"field":"severity","old":"medium","new":"high"},{"seq":229290,"id":"CVE-2026-72172","ts":1793019667172,"field":"cvss","old":"7.8","new":"5.5"},{"seq":229289,"id":"CVE-2026-72172","ts":1793019667172,"field":"severity","old":"high","new":"medium"}]}