# CVE-2026-43169: drm/buddy: Prevent BUG_ON by validating rounded allocation

> A missing validation in the Linux kernel DRM buddy allocator allows invalid memory requests to trigger a BUG_ON, causing a system crash.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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:** 6 May 2026
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2026-43169, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-43169, GHSA-vpc5-6pmj-q288, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2026-43169, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-43169

## What is CVE-2026-43169?

CVE-2026-43169 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 6 May 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:

drm/buddy: Prevent BUG_ON by validating rounded allocation

When DRM_BUDDY_CONTIGUOUS_ALLOCATION is set, the requested size is
rounded up to the next power-of-two via roundup_pow_of_two().
Similarly, for non-contiguous allocations with large min_block_size,
the size is aligned up via round_up(). Both operations can produce a
rounded size that exceeds mm->size, which later triggers
BUG_ON(order > mm->max_order).

Example scenarios:
- 9G CONTIGUOUS allocation on 10G VRAM memory:
  roundup_pow_of_two(9G) = 16G > 10G
- 9G allocation with 8G min_block_size on 10G VRAM memory:
  round_up(9G, 8G) = 16G > 10G

Fix this by checking the rounded size against mm->size. For
non-contiguous or range allocations where size > mm->size is invalid,
return -EINVAL immediately. For contiguous allocations without range
restrictions, allow the request to fall through to the existing
__alloc_contig_try_harder() fallback.

This ensures invalid user input returns an error or uses the fallback
path instead of hitting BUG_ON.

v2: (Matt A)
- Add Fixes, Cc stable, and Closes tags for context

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-43169?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-43169?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-43169 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-43169 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-2026-43169 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-43169 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 6 May 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-2026-43169 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-2026-43169/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-43169/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-43169
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-43169
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-43169

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-43169/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.