Bug 2541223 (CVE-2026-97905) - CVE-2026-97905 kernel: cpufreq: zero-initialize policy cpumask before sysfs publication
Summary: CVE-2026-97905 kernel: cpufreq: zero-initialize policy cpumask before sysfs p...
Keywords:
Status: NEW
Alias: CVE-2026-97905
Product: Security Response
Classification: Other
Component: vulnerability
Version: unspecified
Hardware: All
OS: Linux
low
low
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Product Security
QA Contact:
URL:
Whiteboard:
Depends On:
Blocks:
TreeView+ depends on / blocked
 
Reported: 2026-09-25 11:05 UTC by OSIDB Bzimport
Modified: 2026-09-29 17:19 UTC (History)
17 users (show)

Fixed In Version:
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-09-25 11:05:00 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

cpufreq: zero-initialize policy cpumask before sysfs publication

cpufreq_policy_alloc() allocates policy->cpus with alloc_cpumask_var(),
i.e. without __GFP_ZERO, unlike the sibling related_cpus and real_cpus
masks. With CONFIG_CPUMASK_OFFSTACK=y the mask is a separate
kmalloc_node() allocation, so its bitmap holds whatever the slab allocator
left behind:

  cpufreq_online()
    cpufreq_policy_alloc()
      alloc_cpumask_var(&policy->cpus)    /* bitmap is uninitialized */
      kobject_init_and_add()              /* policy%u/ appears in sysfs */
    cpufreq_policy_online()
      cpumask_copy(policy->cpus, cpumask_of(cpu))  /* first valid value */

This leaves a window in which the sysfs attributes are already reachable
while policy->cpus is still garbage. show()/store() gate on
policy_is_inactive(), i.e. cpumask_empty(policy->cpus), so a non-zero
bitmap makes them run the attribute callbacks on a policy that is not
initialized yet.

Fix this by using zalloc_cpumask_var() for policy->cpus.


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