CVE-2026-72244 gpu/buddy: bail out of try_harder when alignment cannot be honoured
The Linux kernel GPU buddy allocator could return misaligned memory ranges, potentially causing functional issues or instability in GPU drivers.
- 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
What is CVE-2026-72244?
CVE-2026-72244 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux, published on 15 Aug 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:
gpu/buddy: bail out of try_harder when alignment cannot be honoured
The try_harder contiguous fallback could return a range whose start offset did not match the caller's min_block_size. When a candidate's start is misaligned, realign it: free the misaligned run and reallocate exactly @size at the next lower min_block_size boundary. This keeps the returned size unchanged with no surplus to trim, and rejects the request only when no aligned candidate fits.
v2: align misaligned candidates down to min_block_size instead of bailing out, for both the RHS and LHS paths (Matthew).
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-72244?
How do I fix CVE-2026-72244?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Is CVE-2026-72244 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-72244 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2026-72244, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-72244, GHSA-c4ph-4532-7vq7, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-72244.