CVE-2026-97942 x86/alternatives: Exclude text poking against change_page_attr()
A race condition in the Linux kernel x86 alternatives code can cause a kernel panic when text poking conflicts with page attribute changes.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- An administrator
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-97942?
CVE-2026-97942 is a vulnerability in Linux, published on 25 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/alternatives: Exclude text poking against change_page_attr()
From time to time, the following BUG can be observed in the x86 alternatives patching code [0]:
> kernel BUG at arch/x86/kernel/alternative.c:2576! > Oops: invalid opcode: 0000 [#1] SMP NOPTI > CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 355 Comm: (udev-worker) Not tainted 7.1.3-1-default #1 PREEMPT(full) openSUSE Tumbleweed 8c1795b03ec64f997e57a8ad38b1161e3b98da64 > Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS unknown 02/02/2022 > RIP: 0010:__text_poke+0x2aa/0x450 > Call Trace: > <TASK> > smp_text_poke_batch_finish+0x2a7/0x320 > __static_call_transform+0xb7/0x220 > arch_static_call_transform+0x5b/0xb0 > __static_call_init+0xe9/0x270 > static_call_module_notify+0x11f/0x150 > notifier_call_chain+0x61/0xe0 > blocking_notifier_call_chain_robust+0x63/0xc0 > load_module+0x1c92/0x20c0 > init_module_from_file+0xd8/0x140 > idempotent_init_module+0x100/0x2f0 > __x64_sys_finit_module+0x71/0xe0 > do_syscall_64+0xe1/0x610 > entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x76/0x7e
which matches the following BUG_ON() in alternative.c:
/* * If something went wrong, crash and burn since recovery paths are not * implemented. */ BUG_ON(!pages[0] || (cross_page_boundary && !pages[1]));
This can happen if vmalloc_to_page() fails, for any reason. Such can happen if text poking races with CPA, which can possibly result in the collapsing of page tables (or breaking of PMD hugepages). It is not a problem for most users of vmalloc_to_page() (they solely own the vmalloc'd range) but, when CONFIG_ARCH_HAS_EXECMEM_ROX=y, various modules own a single execmem vmalloc range, and can call set_memory_*() in parallel on it. This can happen to race against __text_poke and cause havoc in vmalloc_to_page().
Fix it by excluding against CPA using the init_mm mmap read lock.
[ dhansen: Fix up SoB ordering. The actual code flow here was: Pedro=>Lorenzo=>Mike=>Me which is reflected in the SoB chain now. I *believe* Mike simply picked up Lorenzo's update to Pedro's post from the Link ]
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-97942?
How do I fix CVE-2026-97942?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Is CVE-2026-97942 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-97942 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2026-97942, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-97942, GHSA-g4fw-gv65-xh5g, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-97942.