# CVE-2026-46284: mm/hugetlb: fix early boot crash on parameters without '=' separator

> A local attacker with kernel command line access can cause a denial of service by specifying hugepage parameters without an equals sign, triggering a null pointer dereference during boot.

- **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 Jun 2026
- **Updated:** 14 Jun 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2026-46284, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-46284, GHSA-wf92-393r-9p92, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-46284

## What is CVE-2026-46284?

CVE-2026-46284 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 8 Jun 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/hugetlb: fix early boot crash on parameters without '=' separator

If hugepages, hugepagesz, or default_hugepagesz are specified on the
kernel command line without the '=' separator, early parameter parsing
passes NULL to hugetlb_add_param(), which dereferences it in strlen() and
can crash the system during early boot.

Reject NULL values in hugetlb_add_param() and return -EINVAL instead.

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-46284?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-46284?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-46284 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-46284 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-2026-46284 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-46284 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 8 Jun 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-2026-46284 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-2026-46284/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-46284/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-46284
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-46284
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-46284

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-46284/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.