CVE-2026-64297: module: decompress: check return value of module_extend_max_pages()

Severity: medium (CVSS 5.5 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.2% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2026-07-25 · updated 2026-08-17
Weakness: CWE-476

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: module: decompress: check return value of module_extend_max_pages() module_extend_max_pages() calls kvrealloc() internally and returns -ENOMEM on allocation failure. The return value is never checked. If the initial allocation fails, info->pages remains NULL and info->max_pages remains 0. Subsequent calls to module_get_next_page() will attempt to dynamically grow the array by calling module_extend_max_pages(info, 0) since info->used_pages is 0. This results in kvrealloc(NULL, 0) returning ZERO_SIZE_PTR, which is treated as a success, leading to a dereference of ZERO_SIZE_PTR and a kernel oops. Fix: add the missing error check after module_extend_max_pages() and return immediately on failure. This matches the pattern used by every other kvrealloc() caller in the module loading path. [Sami: Corrected the analysis in the commit message.]

Affected products

Linux kernel: from 5.17 before 6.1.178; from 6.2 before 6.6.145; from 6.7 before 6.12.96; from 6.13 before 6.18.39; from 6.19 before 7.1.4 — fixed in 6.1.178, 6.12.96, 6.18.39, 6.6.145, 7.1.4

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 6.1.178, 6.12.96, 6.18.39, 6.6.145. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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