# CVE-2026-23025: mm/page_alloc: prevent pcp corruption with SMP=n
> A race condition in the Linux kernel memory allocator causes spinlock corruption and system crashes on non-SMP configurations.
- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 31 Jan 2026
- **Updated:** 2 Jun 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-77172, BELL-CVE-2026-23025, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-23025, GHSA-c784-4r38-57xw, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2026-23025, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-13-CVE-2026-23025, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2026-23025, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23025
## What is CVE-2026-23025?
CVE-2026-23025 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 31 Jan 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
### Official description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
mm/page_alloc: prevent pcp corruption with SMP=n
The kernel test robot has reported:
BUG: spinlock trylock failure on UP on CPU#0, kcompactd0/28
lock: 0xffff888807e35ef0, .magic: dead4ead, .owner: kcompactd0/28, .owner_cpu: 0
CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 28 Comm: kcompactd0 Not tainted 6.18.0-rc5-00127-ga06157804399 #1 PREEMPT 8cc09ef94dcec767faa911515ce9e609c45db470
Call Trace:
__dump_stack (lib/dump_stack.c:95)
dump_stack_lvl (lib/dump_stack.c:123)
dump_stack (lib/dump_stack.c:130)
spin_dump (kernel/locking/spinlock_debug.c:71)
do_raw_spin_trylock (kernel/locking/spinlock_debug.c:?)
_raw_spin_trylock (include/linux/spinlock_api_smp.h:89 kernel/locking/spinlock.c:138)
__free_frozen_pages (mm/page_alloc.c:2973)
___free_pages (mm/page_alloc.c:5295)
__free_pages (mm/page_alloc.c:5334)
tlb_remove_table_rcu (include/linux/mm.h:? include/linux/mm.h:3122 include/asm-generic/tlb.h:220 mm/mmu_gather.c:227 mm/mmu_gather.c:290)
? __cfi_tlb_remove_table_rcu (mm/mmu_gather.c:289)
? rcu_core (kernel/rcu/tree.c:?)
rcu_core (include/linux/rcupdate.h:341 kernel/rcu/tree.c:2607 kernel/rcu/tree.c:2861)
rcu_core_si (kernel/rcu/tree.c:2879)
handle_softirqs (arch/x86/include/asm/jump_label.h:36 include/trace/events/irq.h:142 kernel/softirq.c:623)
__irq_exit_rcu (arch/x86/include/asm/jump_label.h:36 kernel/softirq.c:725)
irq_exit_rcu (kernel/softirq.c:741)
sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt (arch/x86/kernel/apic/apic.c:1052)
RIP: 0010:_raw_spin_unlock_irqrestore (arch/x86/include/asm/preempt.h:95 include/linux/spinlock_api_smp.h:152 kernel/locking/spinlock.c:194)
free_pcppages_bulk (mm/page_alloc.c:1494)
drain_pages_zone (include/linux/spinlock.h:391 mm/page_alloc.c:2632)
__drain_all_pages (mm/page_alloc.c:2731)
drain_all_pages (mm/page_alloc.c:2747)
kcompactd (mm/compaction.c:3115)
kthread (kernel/kthread.c:465)
? __cfi_kcompactd (mm/compaction.c:3166)
? __cfi_kthread (kernel/kthread.c:412)
ret_from_fork (arch/x86/kernel/process.c:164)
? __cfi_kthread (kernel/kthread.c:412)
ret_from_fork_asm (arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:255)
Matthew has analyzed the report and identified that in drain_page_zone()
we are in a section protected by spin_lock(&pcp->lock) and then get an
interrupt that attempts spin_trylock() on the same lock. The code is
designed to work this way without disabling IRQs and occasionally fail the
trylock with a fallback. However, the SMP=n spinlock implementation
assumes spin_trylock() will always succeed, and thus it's normally a
no-op. Here the enabled lock debugging catches the problem, but otherwise
it could cause a corruption of the pcp structure.
The problem has been introduced by commit 574907741599 ("mm/page_alloc:
leave IRQs enabled for per-cpu page allocations"). The pcp locking scheme
recognizes the need for disabling IRQs to prevent nesting spin_trylock()
sections on SMP=n, but the need to prevent the nesting in spin_lock() has
not been recognized. Fix it by introducing local wrappers that change the
spin_lock() to spin_lock_iqsave() with SMP=n and use them in all places
that do spin_lock(&pcp->lock).
[vbabka@suse.cz: add pcp_ prefix to the spin_lock_irqsave wrappers, per Steven]
## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-23025?
It affects 1 product.
Products: Linux kernel.
## How do I fix CVE-2026-23025?
Apply the vendor's patch.
## Is CVE-2026-23025 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-23025 in the wild and no public exploit code.
## Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
- [CVE-2026-53266](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53266/): Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-6282](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-6282/): Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-0185](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-0185/): Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-2094](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-2094/): Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-53362](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53362/): Linux Kernel Unspecified (high 7.8, exploited in the wild)
## Fix prompt for AI coding agents
```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-23025 and fix it if it is affected.
What it is: CVE-2026-23025 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 31 Jan 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-23025 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Affected product: Linux kernel. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.
Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.
Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-23025/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-23025/index.md)
```
## Sources
- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-23025
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-23025
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-23025
---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-23025/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.