# CVE-2026-43417: sched/mmcid: Handle vfork()/CLONE_VM correctly

> A logic error in the Linux kernel's scheduler causes system stalls when handling vfork() tasks, leading to denial of service.

- **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:** DEBIAN-CVE-2026-43417, GHSA-hjwg-8c2j-jq5p, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-43417

## What is CVE-2026-43417?

CVE-2026-43417 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:

sched/mmcid: Handle vfork()/CLONE_VM correctly

Matthieu and Jiri reported stalls where a task endlessly loops in
mm_get_cid() when scheduling in.

It turned out that the logic which handles vfork()'ed tasks is broken. It
is invoked when the number of tasks associated to a process is smaller than
the number of MMCID users. It then walks the task list to find the
vfork()'ed task, but accounts all the already processed tasks as well.

If that double processing brings the number of to be handled tasks to 0,
the walk stops and the vfork()'ed task's CID is not fixed up. As a
consequence a subsequent schedule in fails to acquire a (transitional) CID
and the machine stalls.

Cure this by removing the accounting condition and make the fixup always
walk the full task list if it could not find the exact number of users in
the process' thread list.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-43417?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-43417?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-43417 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-43417 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-2026-43417 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-43417 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-2026-43417 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-2026-43417/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-43417/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-43417
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-43417
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-43417

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-43417/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.