# CVE-2026-53288: arm64: Reserve an extra page for early kernel mapping

> A memory corruption vulnerability in the Linux kernel arm64 early mapping allows attackers to cause denial of service or potentially execute code.

- **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:** 26 Jun 2026
- **Updated:** 26 Jun 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2026-53288, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-53288, GHSA-24wq-6x4v-q3fv, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-53288

## What is CVE-2026-53288?

CVE-2026-53288 is a medium-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 26 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:

arm64: Reserve an extra page for early kernel mapping

The final part of [data, end) segment may overflow into the next page of
init_pg_end[1] which is the gap page before early_init_stack[2]:

[1]
crash_arm64_v9.0.1> vtop ffffffed00601000
VIRTUAL           PHYSICAL
ffffffed00601000  83401000

PAGE DIRECTORY: ffffffecffd62000
   PGD: ffffffecffd62da0 => 10000000833fb003
   PMD: ffffff80033fb018 => 10000000833fe003
   PTE: ffffff80033fe008 => 68000083401f03
  PAGE: 83401000

     PTE        PHYSICAL  FLAGS
68000083401f03  83401000  (VALID|SHARED|AF|NG|PXN|UXN)

      PAGE       PHYSICAL      MAPPING       INDEX CNT FLAGS
fffffffec00d0040 83401000                0        0  1 4000 reserved

[2]
ffffffed002c8000 (r) __pi__data
ffffffed0054e000 (d) __pi___bss_start
ffffffed005f5000 (b) __pi_init_pg_dir
ffffffed005fe000 (b) __pi_init_pg_end
ffffffed005ff000 (B) early_init_stack
ffffffed00608000 (b) __pi__end

For 4K pages, the early kernel mapping may use 2MB block entries but the
kernel segments are only 64KB aligned. Segment boundaries that fall
within a 2MB block therefore require a PTE table so that different
attributes can be applied on either side of the boundary.

KERNEL_SEGMENT_COUNT still correctly counts the five permanent kernel
VMAs registered by declare_kernel_vmas(). However, since commit
5973a62efa34 ("arm64: map [_text, _stext) virtual address range
non-executable+read-only"), the early mapper also maps [_text, _stext)
separately from [_stext, _etext). This adds one more early-only split
and can require one more page-table page than the existing
EARLY_SEGMENT_EXTRA_PAGES allowance reserves.

Increase the 4K-page early mapping allowance by one page to cover that
additional split.

[catalin.marinas@arm.com: rewrote part of the commit log]
[catalin.marinas@arm.com: expanded the code comment]

Weakness: CWE-674 (Uncontrolled Recursion)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-53288?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-53288?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-53288 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-53288 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-2026-53288 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-53288 is a medium-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 26 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-2026-53288 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-2026-53288/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53288/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-53288
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-53288
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-53288

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53288/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.