Answer in brief
CVE-2026-43401 records a Unknown severity vulnerability in cpufreq: intel_pstate: Fix NULL pointer dereference in update_cpu_qos_request(). The current sources do not mark it as known exploited. The current feed maps Linux/Linux (generic), Linux/Linux (generic). Check affected ranges and fixed versions before updating.
Analysis pending evidence review
HOL Guard separates source facts from reviewed analysis. See the methodology.
A CVSS score is not reported in the current record. The current sources do not mark it as known exploited. Treat this as a source-backed prioritization signal, not a statement about your environment.
Analysis status
Analysis pending evidence review
Factual feed record only; HOL analysis is not approved for indexing. Read the methodology.
The current feed maps Linux/Linux (generic), Linux/Linux (generic). Check affected ranges and fixed versions before updating.
| Package | Affected range | Fixed version |
|---|---|---|
| Linux/Linuxgeneric | >=ae1bdd23b99f64335c69d546bff99ca39b894c18 <6bfda7ce56e7d14a677b7bcd6c7a5009cc29aa88 || >=ae1bdd23b99f64335c69d546bff99ca39b894c18 <42738dffb7b0766a45882dff7989401d78f66f92 || >=ae1bdd23b99f64335c69d546bff99ca39b894c18 <ab39cc4cb8ceecdc2b61747433e7237f1ac2b789 | 6bfda7ce56e7d14a677b7bcd6c7a5009cc29aa88, 42738dffb7b0766a45882dff7989401d78f66f92, ab39cc4cb8ceecdc2b61747433e7237f1ac2b789 |
| Linux/Linuxgeneric | 6.18 | Not reported |
Published upstream
May 8, 2026
Evidence: source:cvelist:source_dates:source-dates:recordSource modified
Nov 6, 2026
Evidence: source:cvelist:source_dates:source-dates:recordFirst seen by HOL
Nov 6, 2026
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 ]
Quoted source text, attributed separately from HOL analysis.