FKIE_CVE-2026-43401

Vulnerability from fkie_nvd - Published: 2026-05-08 15:16 - Updated: 2026-05-21 19:26
Severity
5.5 (Medium) - CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: cpufreq: intel_pstate: Fix NULL pointer dereference in update_cpu_qos_request() The update_cpu_qos_request() function attempts to initialize the 'freq' variable by dereferencing 'cpudata' before verifying if the 'policy' is valid. This issue occurs on systems booted with the "nosmt" parameter, where all_cpu_data[cpu] is NULL for the SMT sibling threads. As a result, any call to update_qos_requests() will result in a NULL pointer dereference as the code will attempt to access pstate.turbo_freq using the NULL cpudata pointer. Also, pstate.turbo_freq may be updated by intel_pstate_get_hwp_cap() after initializing the 'freq' variable, so it is better to defer the 'freq' until intel_pstate_get_hwp_cap() has been called. Fix this by deferring the 'freq' assignment until after the policy and driver_data have been validated. [ rjw: Added one paragraph to the changelog ]
References
416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/42738dffb7b0766a45882dff7989401d78f66f92Patch
416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6bfda7ce56e7d14a677b7bcd6c7a5009cc29aa88Patch
416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ab39cc4cb8ceecdc2b61747433e7237f1ac2b789Patch
Impacted products
Vendor Product Version
linux linux_kernel *
linux linux_kernel *
linux linux_kernel 7.0
To clipboard 

{
  "configurations": [
    {
      "nodes": [
        {
          "cpeMatch": [
            {
              "criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
              "matchCriteriaId": "4B3A7D3C-8D62-43DB-ADD2-83F0634E4C23",
              "versionEndExcluding": "6.18.19",
              "versionStartIncluding": "6.18",
              "vulnerable": true
            },
            {
              "criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
              "matchCriteriaId": "E825E7C3-FEAC-4FD3-8A81-78D7387948C9",
              "versionEndExcluding": "6.19.9",
              "versionStartIncluding": "6.19",
              "vulnerable": true
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            {
              "criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.0:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*",
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          "negate": false,
          "operator": "OR"
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  ],
  "cveTags": [],
  "descriptions": [
    {
      "lang": "en",
      "value": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\ncpufreq: intel_pstate: Fix NULL pointer dereference in update_cpu_qos_request()\n\nThe update_cpu_qos_request() function attempts to initialize the \u0027freq\u0027\nvariable by dereferencing \u0027cpudata\u0027 before verifying if the \u0027policy\u0027\nis valid.\n\nThis issue occurs on systems booted with the \"nosmt\" parameter, where\nall_cpu_data[cpu] is NULL for the SMT sibling threads. As a result,\nany call to update_qos_requests() will result in a NULL pointer\ndereference as the code will attempt to access pstate.turbo_freq using\nthe NULL cpudata pointer.\n\nAlso, pstate.turbo_freq may be updated by intel_pstate_get_hwp_cap()\nafter initializing the \u0027freq\u0027 variable, so it is better to defer the\n\u0027freq\u0027 until intel_pstate_get_hwp_cap() has been called.\n\nFix this by deferring the \u0027freq\u0027 assignment until after the policy and\ndriver_data have been validated.\n\n[ rjw: Added one paragraph to the changelog ]"
    }
  ],
  "id": "CVE-2026-43401",
  "lastModified": "2026-05-21T19:26:06.597",
  "metrics": {
    "cvssMetricV31": [
      {
        "cvssData": {
          "attackComplexity": "LOW",
          "attackVector": "LOCAL",
          "availabilityImpact": "HIGH",
          "baseScore": 5.5,
          "baseSeverity": "MEDIUM",
          "confidentialityImpact": "NONE",
          "integrityImpact": "NONE",
          "privilegesRequired": "LOW",
          "scope": "UNCHANGED",
          "userInteraction": "NONE",
          "vectorString": "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H",
          "version": "3.1"
        },
        "exploitabilityScore": 1.8,
        "impactScore": 3.6,
        "source": "nvd@nist.gov",
        "type": "Primary"
      }
    ]
  },
  "published": "2026-05-08T15:16:51.543",
  "references": [
    {
      "source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
      "tags": [
        "Patch"
      ],
      "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/42738dffb7b0766a45882dff7989401d78f66f92"
    },
    {
      "source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
      "tags": [
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    },
    {
      "source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
      "tags": [
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      "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ab39cc4cb8ceecdc2b61747433e7237f1ac2b789"
    }
  ],
  "sourceIdentifier": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
  "vulnStatus": "Analyzed",
  "weaknesses": [
    {
      "description": [
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "value": "CWE-476"
        }
      ],
      "source": "nvd@nist.gov",
      "type": "Primary"
    }
  ]
}


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