CVE-2026-72027: mm/compaction: handle free_pages_prepare() properly in compaction_free()

Severity: high (CVSS 7.8 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: 2026-08-15 · updated 2026-08-17

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mm/compaction: handle free_pages_prepare() properly in compaction_free() free_pages_prepare() can fail but compaction_free() does not handle the failure case. Failed pages should not be added back to cc->freepages for future use, since they can be either PageHWPoison or free_page_is_bad() and might cause data corruption.

Affected products

Linux kernel: 6.9 — fixed in 7.2

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 7.2. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/018d7ad26cb8bdfe9842f2ca68a42b0bfdcc82fe
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/23afc3786acf359c135093893fb43a436768c832
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7da7d599b8a83271c464adfd5ef160202b470570
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/de8577db09039d4950239b01446ab5ead9028ab4

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