Answer in brief
CVE-2026-72016 records a Unknown severity vulnerability in cpu/hotplug: Fix NULL kobject warning in cpuhp_smt_enable(). 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 | >=eed4583bcf9a60f8d6dd3a3c7c94dea28134b1eb <ccdf1770a4ba27e31599d24ad970d77a371c7912 || >=eed4583bcf9a60f8d6dd3a3c7c94dea28134b1eb <901a489d89ee9c854624c8444090e38e70aed234 || >=eed4583bcf9a60f8d6dd3a3c7c94dea28134b1eb <f9a82544c7174851f5c7524622f5966dcafd3a47 | ccdf1770a4ba27e31599d24ad970d77a371c7912, 901a489d89ee9c854624c8444090e38e70aed234, f9a82544c7174851f5c7524622f5966dcafd3a47 |
| Linux/Linuxgeneric | 6.15 | Not reported |
Published upstream
Aug 15, 2026
Evidence: source:cvelist:source_dates:source-dates:recordSource modified
Aug 17, 2026
Evidence: source:cvelist:source_dates:source-dates:recordFirst seen by HOL
Aug 15, 2026
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: cpu/hotplug: Fix NULL kobject warning in cpuhp_smt_enable() On arm64, when booting with `maxcpus` greater than the number of present CPUs (e.g., QEMU -smp cpus=4,maxcpus=8), some CPUs are marked as 'present' but have not yet been registered via register_cpu(). Consequently, the per-cpu device objects for these CPUs are not yet initialized. In cpuhp_smt_enable(), the code iterates over all present CPUs. Calling _cpu_up() for these unregistered CPUs eventually leads to sysfs_create_group() being called with a NULL kobject (or a kobject without a directory), triggering the following warning in fs/sysfs/group.c: WARNING: fs/sysfs/group.c:137 at internal_create_group+0x41c/0x4bc, CPU#2: sh/181 [...] Call trace: internal_create_group+0x41c/0x4bc (P) sysfs_create_group+0x18/0x24 topology_add_dev+0x1c/0x28 cpuhp_invoke_callback+0x104/0x20c __cpuhp_invoke_callback_range+0x94/0x11c _cpu_up+0x200/0x37c When booting with ACPI, arm64 smp_prepare_cpus() currently sets all enumerated CPUs as "present" regardless of their status in the MADT. This causes issues with SMT hotplug control. For instance, with QEMU's "-smp 4,maxcpus=8" configuration, the MADT GICC entries are populated as follows: 1. The first four CPUs: `Enabled` set but `Online Capable` not set. 2. The remaining four CPUs: `Online Capable` set but `Enabled` not set to support potential hot-plugging. Fix this by: 1. When booting with ACPI, checking the ACPI_MADT_ENABLED flag in the GICC entry before calling set_cpu_present() during SMP initialization. 2. Properly managing the present mask in acpi_map_cpu() and acpi_unmap_cpu() to support actual CPU hotplug events, This aligns with other architectures like x86 and LoongArch. 3. Update the arm64 CPU hotplug documentation to no longer state that all online-capable vCPUs are marked as present by the kernel at boot time. This ensures that only physically available or explicitly enabled CPUs are in the present mask, keeping the SMT control logic consistent with the actual hardware state.
Quoted source text, attributed separately from HOL analysis.