Medium

CVE-2026-53342 — arm64: mm: call pagetable dtor when freeing hot-removed page tables

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: arm64: mm: call pagetable dtor when freeing hot-removed page tables Since 5e8eb9aeeda3 ("arm64: mm: always call PTE/PMD ctor in __create_pgd_mapping()") page-table allocation on ARM64 always calls pagetable_{pte,pmd,pud,p4d}_ctor(). This sets the page_type to PGTY_table, increments NR_PAGETABLE and possible allocates a PTL. However the matching pagetable_dtor() calls were never added. With DEBUG_VM enabled on kernel versions prior to v6.17 without 2dfcd1608f3a9 ("mm/page_alloc: let page freeing clear any set page type") this leads to the following warning when freeing these pages due to page->page_type sharing page->_mapcount: BUG: Bad page state in process ... pfn:284fbb page: refcount:0 mapcount:0 mapping:0000000000000000 index:0x0 pfn:0x284fbb flags: 0x17fffc000000000(node=0|zone=2|lastcpupid=0x1ffff) page_type: f2(table) page dumped because: nonzero mapcount Call trace: bad_page+0x13c/0x160 __free_frozen_pages+0x6cc/0x860 ___free_pages+0xf4/0x180 free_pages+0x54/0x80 free_hotplug_page_range.part.0+0x58/0x90 free_empty_tables+0x438/0x500 __remove_pgd_mapping.constprop.0+0x60/0xa8 arch_remove_memory+0x48/0x80 try_remove_memory+0x158/0x1d8 offline_and_remove_memory+0x138/0x180 It can also lead to leaking the ptl allocation if ALLOC_SPLIT_PTLOCKS is defined and incorrect NR_PAGETABLE stats. Fix this by calling pagetable_dtor() in free_hotplug_pgtable_page() prior to freeing the page to undo the effects of calling pagetable_*_ctor().

Published Jul 1, 2026 · Updated Oct 15, 2026 · Sources: NIST National Vulnerability Database, CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP · CNA: Linux

Low

Who exploits it and how urgent it is

A 0–100 score combining confirmed exploitation, ransomware and APT use, public exploits, EPSS and severity.

No exploitation signal in the sources consulted so far.

How the score was calculated

EPSS 0.1% (30-day exploitation probability)+0
Technical severity (medium)+3

The score orders the patch queue; it does not replace your asset context (internet exposure, criticality, compensating controls).

Triage

Is it exploited, how likely is exploitation, what does it touch, and how severe do the sources call it.

Exploitation

Not confirmed

Not in CISA KEV — an absence of record, not proof it is unexploited.

EPSS FIRST

0.12%

ahead of 2% of scored CVEs · Oct 16, 2026

Affects

Linux

Linux and 1 more

CVSS base

5.5

Medium · 1 source(s)

Remediation

Fixes and mitigations documented by the sources — linked to the original advisory.

Documented patch — git.kernel.org (NIST National Vulnerability Database)
Documented patch — git.kernel.org (NIST National Vulnerability Database)
Documented patch — git.kernel.org (NIST National Vulnerability Database)

First 24 hours

Ordered from the record’s own fields — exposure first, because you cannot patch what you have not found. A rule-generated starting point.

Identify exposed assets running the affected vendor/product/version combinations (Linux Linux, Linux Linux Kernel).
Apply the fixed version or the patch documented under Remediation.
Search available logs for exploit probes, errors and authentication anomalies.

Affected scope

Vendor, product and versions as the sources word them.

Vendor	Product	Versions	Status	Source
Linux	Linux	≥ 5e8eb9aeeda3a7aaf48efa1d34ae804e894e307f and < 95f27fcda681021ed3906d3cae7e68b6a57a1d8e≥ 5e8eb9aeeda3a7aaf48efa1d34ae804e894e307f and < aaa688ac9f18207f7452c6472e647c1febaea6a3≥ 5e8eb9aeeda3a7aaf48efa1d34ae804e894e307f and < c594b83457ccdee76d458416fb3bc9348a37592fversion 6.16	Vulnerable	CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
Linux	Linux Kernel	≥ 6.16 and < 6.18.36≥ 6.19 and < 7.0.13version 7.1-rc1version 7.1-rc2version 7.1-rc3version 7.1-rc4version 7.1-rc5version 7.1-rc6 and 1 more version 7.1-rc7	Vulnerable	NIST National Vulnerability Database

Attack characteristics

The CVSS vector, decoded. It describes the attack, not your exposure to it.

Attack vector

Local

Attack complexity

Low

Privileges required

Low

User interaction

None

Scope

Unchanged

Confidentiality

None

Integrity

None

Availability

High

Every base score collected

Sources score independently and may disagree; each row says who scored it and under which version.

Score	Version	Severity	Expl.	Impact	Scored by
5.5	CVSS 3.1	Medium	1.8	3.6	nvd@nist.gov via NIST National Vulnerability Database

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H (score shown at the top: nvd@nist.gov)

EPSS over time FIRST

Oct 15, 2026 → Oct 16, 2026 · 2 reading(s) · max 0.12%

Detection

Read off the CVSS vector and the weakness class. Starting points, not tested rules.

Local/physical vector: focus on endpoint telemetry (EDR) from affected hosts.

endpoint telemetry (EDR)

Timeline

What happened to this CVE, newest first.

2026
Affected products added · linux/linux
Oct 15, 2026 · CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
Record published
Oct 15, 2026
Fix documented
Oct 15, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
CVSS changed · 5.5
Oct 15, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
Source status changed · → Analyzed
Oct 15, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
Record created in this database
Oct 15, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
CVE published
Jul 1, 2026 · Linux

Source activity

Repeated readings are counted rather than listed.

1× Official description updated · Oct 15, 2026 – Oct 15, 2026

References

3 on the record

git.kernel.org/stable/c/95f27fcda681021ed3906d3cae7e68b6a57a1d8e
Patch, NIST National Vulnerability Database
git.kernel.org/stable/c/c594b83457ccdee76d458416fb3bc9348a37592f
Patch, NIST National Vulnerability Database
git.kernel.org/stable/c/aaa688ac9f18207f7452c6472e647c1febaea6a3
Patch, NIST National Vulnerability Database

Elsewhere on this site

Linux
every CVE for this vendor

Related CVEs (same products)

Critical CVE-2026-99999 ipv4: validate checksum_start before completing checksum 2d
Unknown CVE-2026-98432 ipv4: free inet_opt and ireq_opt after an RCU grace period 2d
Unknown CVE-2026-98430 RDMA/efa: Keep admin queues alive while IRQ is registered 3d
Unknown CVE-2026-98424 wifi: cfg80211: undo netns switch if renaming the wiphy fails 3d
Unknown CVE-2026-98425 wifi: mac80211: don't warn when an IBSS has no channel to scan 3d
Unknown CVE-2026-98426 wifi: mwifiex: fix IRQ leak using wrong index in MSI-X error path 3d

Not in any source we poll

Listed rather than left blank: an empty field and an unmeasured one look identical on screen, and only one is a reason to look elsewhere.

No CISA SSVC assessment.
No CWE classification.
No confirmed IOCs, IP addresses, domains, file hashes, or malware artifacts supplied.
No organization-specific asset inventory, compensating-control status, or patch deployment evidence supplied.
No exploit packet captures, log samples, or incident case IDs supplied.

Answered from this record

Text assembled only from the fields above — no additional claims.

What should defenders know first?

CVE-2026-53342 is "arm64: mm: call pagetable dtor when freeing hot-removed page tables", rated Medium. It affects Linux (Linux); versions are in the scope table. It is not in CISA KEV, which does not rule out exploitation. CVSS 5.5 describes technical severity. EPSS 0.12% estimates the probability of exploitation in 30 days; neither replaces your asset context. First verify whether exposed or business-critical assets run the affected versions, apply vendor fixes or mitigations, and preserve logs for review.

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