NULL pointer dereference in Linux
CVE-2026-23332
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: cpufreq: intel_pstate: Fix crash during turbo disable When the system is booted with kernel command line argument "nosmt" or "maxcpus" to limit the number of CPUs, disabling turbo via: echo 1 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/intel_pstate/no_turbo results in a crash: PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present page PGD 0 P4D 0 Oops: Oops: 0000 [#1] SMP PTI ... RIP: 0010:store_no_turbo+0x100/0x1f0 ... This occurs because for_each_possible_cpu() returns CPUs even if they are not online. For those CPUs, all_cpu_data[] will be NULL. Since commit 973207ae3d7c ("cpufreq: intel_pstate: Rearrange max frequency updates handling code"), all_cpu_data[] is dereferenced even for CPUs which are not online, causing the NULL pointer dereference. To fix that, pass CPU number to intel_pstate_update_max_freq() and use all_cpu_data[] for those CPUs for which there is a valid cpufreq policy.
EPSS: 0.001 (2.2th percentile) — read the EPSS interpretation.
CVSS v3 metric
CVSS v3 base score 5.5 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.
Affected products
- Linux — versions 973207ae3d7c3c92df4a382df5d7bd695deaa904, 6.16, 0
- Linux Linux_kernel — versions 6.16, 7.0
Weakness classification (CWE)
References
Frequently asked questions
- What is CVE-2026-23332?
- CVE-2026-23332 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux, classified under NULL Pointer Dereference. CVSS score: 5.5/10. Published 2026-03-25.
- How severe is CVE-2026-23332?
- Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 5.5 out of 10.