# CVE-2026-43404: mm: Fix a hmm_range_fault() livelock / starvation problem

> A livelock in the Linux kernel's hmm_range_fault function can cause system starvation and denial of service under specific memory migration conditions.

- **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:** 8 May 2026
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2026-43404, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-43404, GHSA-ffq9-g2vv-386p, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-43404

## What is CVE-2026-43404?

CVE-2026-43404 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 8 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:

mm: Fix a hmm_range_fault() livelock / starvation problem

If hmm_range_fault() fails a folio_trylock() in do_swap_page,
trying to acquire the lock of a device-private folio for migration,
to ram, the function will spin until it succeeds grabbing the lock.

However, if the process holding the lock is depending on a work
item to be completed, which is scheduled on the same CPU as the
spinning hmm_range_fault(), that work item might be starved and
we end up in a livelock / starvation situation which is never
resolved.

This can happen, for example if the process holding the
device-private folio lock is stuck in
   migrate_device_unmap()->lru_add_drain_all()
sinc lru_add_drain_all() requires a short work-item
to be run on all online cpus to complete.

A prerequisite for this to happen is:
a) Both zone device and system memory folios are considered in
   migrate_device_unmap(), so that there is a reason to call
   lru_add_drain_all() for a system memory folio while a
   folio lock is held on a zone device folio.
b) The zone device folio has an initial mapcount > 1 which causes
   at least one migration PTE entry insertion to be deferred to
   try_to_migrate(), which can happen after the call to
   lru_add_drain_all().
c) No or voluntary only preemption.

This all seems pretty unlikely to happen, but indeed is hit by
the "xe_exec_system_allocator" igt test.

Resolve this by waiting for the folio to be unlocked if the
folio_trylock() fails in do_swap_page().

Rename migration_entry_wait_on_locked() to
softleaf_entry_wait_unlock() and update its documentation to
indicate the new use-case.

Future code improvements might consider moving
the lru_add_drain_all() call in migrate_device_unmap() to be
called *after* all pages have migration entries inserted.
That would eliminate also b) above.

v2:
- Instead of a cond_resched() in hmm_range_fault(),
  eliminate the problem by waiting for the folio to be unlocked
  in do_swap_page() (Alistair Popple, Andrew Morton)
v3:
- Add a stub migration_entry_wait_on_locked() for the
  !CONFIG_MIGRATION case. (Kernel Test Robot)
v4:
- Rename migrate_entry_wait_on_locked() to
  softleaf_entry_wait_on_locked() and update docs (Alistair Popple)
v5:
- Add a WARN_ON_ONCE() for the !CONFIG_MIGRATION
  version of softleaf_entry_wait_on_locked().
- Modify wording around function names in the commit message
  (Andrew Morton)

(cherry picked from commit a69d1ab971a624c6f112cea61536569d579c3215)

Weakness: CWE-667 (Improper Locking)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-43404?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-43404?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-43404 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-43404 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-2026-43404 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-43404 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 8 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-2026-43404 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-2026-43404/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-43404/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-43404
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-43404
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-43404

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-43404/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.