CVE-2026-93066 x86/mm/pat: Take cpa_lock around large-page collapse
A race condition in the Linux kernel x86/mm/pat module allows local attackers to trigger a use-after-free, potentially leading to privilege escalation or code execution.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-93066?
CVE-2026-93066 is an use after free vulnerability in Linux, published on 17 Sep 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:
x86/mm/pat: Take cpa_lock around large-page collapse
Loading and unloading modules concurrently on several CPUs on a KASAN build, with a short delay injected at the CPA page-table lookup to widen the window, faults within minutes:
BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in __change_page_attr+0x7cc/0x7e0 Write of size 8 at addr ffff888181139718 by task modprobe ... The buggy address belongs to the physical page: pfn:0x181139 ... page_type: f2(table)
cpa_collapse_large_pages() rebuilds a leaf PMD from its 4K PTEs and frees the old PTE-table pages, while __change_page_attr() fetches a PTE pointer from a lockless lookup_address_in_pgd_attr() and writes it with set_pte_atomic() only later. When module text is served from a shared large ROX mapping the two run on the same PMD:
CPU A (module load) CPU B (module finalize) ------------------- ----------------------- execmem_make_temp_rw set_memory_nx __change_page_attr split 2M -> 4K table P kpte = &P[i] (lockless) execmem_restore_rox set_memory_rox (CPA_COLLAPSE) cpa_collapse_large_pages rebuild leaf PMD flush_tlb_all pagetable_free(P) set_pte_atomic(kpte, ...) -> writes into freed P
P is a page-table page (page_type: table), reused at once, so the write corrupts whatever got the page next: a bad-pte or bad-page splat, or a fatal fault once P has been turned into read-only text.
The flush_tlb_all() before the free does not close this: its IPI only serializes against page-table walkers that run with interrupts off (e.g. GUP-fast); the walk in __change_page_attr() runs with interrupts on, so nothing stops it from holding a stale pointer into P.
Serialize the collapse - the PMD rebuild, TLB flush and PTE-table free - under cpa_lock, the same lock __change_page_attr() now takes unconditionally since commit ("x86/mm/pat: stop gating cpa_lock on debug_pagealloc_enabled()"), so a concurrent walker can no longer hold a pointer into a table the collapse is about to free.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-93066?
How do I fix CVE-2026-93066?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade to the fixed version. These bugs are found with fuzzing and sanitisers and avoided by memory-safe languages. More about Use after free.
Is CVE-2026-93066 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-93066 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2026-93066, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-93066, GHSA-cfxg-jwq4-727c, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-93066.