# CVE-2026-53154: mm/hugetlb: restore reservation on error in hugetlb folio copy paths

> A resource leak in the Linux kernel hugetlb subsystem can cause SIGBUS errors and denial of service when copy operations fail.

- **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:** 25 Jun 2026
- **Updated:** 25 Jun 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-90489, BELL-CVE-2026-53154, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-53154, GHSA-6828-fj37-mvwr, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2026-53154, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-53154

## What is CVE-2026-53154?

CVE-2026-53154 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 25 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: restore reservation on error in hugetlb folio copy paths

Two sites in mm/hugetlb.c allocate a hugetlb folio via
alloc_hugetlb_folio() (consuming a VMA reservation) and then call
copy_user_large_folio(), which became int-returning in commit 1cb9dc4b475c
("mm: hwpoison: support recovery from HugePage copy-on-write faults") and
can now fail (e.g.  -EHWPOISON on a hwpoisoned source page).  On the
failure path, folio_put() restores the global hugetlb pool count through
free_huge_folio(), but the per-VMA reservation map entry is left marked
consumed:

  - hugetlb_mfill_atomic_pte() resubmission path (UFFDIO_COPY)
  - copy_hugetlb_page_range() fork-time CoW path when
    hugetlb_try_dup_anon_rmap() fails (rare: pinned hugetlb anon
    folio under fork)

User-visible effect: on UFFDIO_COPY into a private hugetlb VMA where the
resubmission copy fails, the reservation for that address is leaked from
the VMA's reserve map.  A subsequent fault at the same address takes the
no-reservation path, and under hugetlb pool pressure the task is SIGBUSed
at an address it had previously reserved.  The fork-time CoW path leaks
the same way in the child VMA's reserve map, though it requires the much
rarer combination of pinned hugetlb anon page + hwpoisoned source.

Add the missing restore_reserve_on_error() call before folio_put() on both
error paths.

Weakness: CWE-772 (Missing Release of Resource after Effective Lifetime)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-53154?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-53154?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-53154 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-53154 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-2026-53154 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-53154 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 25 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-2026-53154 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-2026-53154/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53154/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-53154
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-53154
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-53154

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53154/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.