Expired Pointer Dereference Affecting kernel6.18-debuginfo package, versions <1:6.18.54-121.166.amzn2023


Severity

Recommended
high

Based on Amazon Linux security rating.

Threat Intelligence

EPSS
0.21% (10th percentile)

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  • Snyk IDSNYK-AMZN2023-KERNEL618DEBUGINFO-21421581
  • published22 Oct 2026
  • disclosed17 Sept 2026

Introduced: 17 Sep 2026

CVE-2026-93066  (opens in a new tab)
CWE-825  (opens in a new tab)

How to fix?

Upgrade Amazon-Linux:2023 kernel6.18-debuginfo to version 1:6.18.54-121.166.amzn2023 or higher.
This issue was patched in ALAS2023-2026-3192.

NVD Description

Note: Versions mentioned in the description apply only to the upstream kernel6.18-debuginfo package and not the kernel6.18-debuginfo package as distributed by Amazon-Linux. See How to fix? for Amazon-Linux:2023 relevant fixed versions and status.

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

x86/mm/pat: Take cpa_lock around large-page collapse

Loading and unloading modules concurrently on several CPUs on a KASAN build, with a short delay injected at the CPA page-table lookup to widen the window, faults within minutes:

BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in __change_page_attr+0x7cc/0x7e0 Write of size 8 at addr ffff888181139718 by task modprobe ... The buggy address belongs to the physical page: pfn:0x181139 ... page_type: f2(table)

cpa_collapse_large_pages() rebuilds a leaf PMD from its 4K PTEs and frees the old PTE-table pages, while __change_page_attr() fetches a PTE pointer from a lockless lookup_address_in_pgd_attr() and writes it with set_pte_atomic() only later. When module text is served from a shared large ROX mapping the two run on the same PMD:

CPU A (module load) CPU B (module finalize)


execmem_make_temp_rw set_memory_nx __change_page_attr split 2M -> 4K table P kpte = &P[i] (lockless) execmem_restore_rox set_memory_rox (CPA_COLLAPSE) cpa_collapse_large_pages rebuild leaf PMD flush_tlb_all pagetable_free(P) set_pte_atomic(kpte, ...) -> writes into freed P

P is a page-table page (page_type: table), reused at once, so the write corrupts whatever got the page next: a bad-pte or bad-page splat, or a fatal fault once P has been turned into read-only text.

The flush_tlb_all() before the free does not close this: its IPI only serializes against page-table walkers that run with interrupts off (e.g. GUP-fast); the walk in __change_page_attr() runs with interrupts on, so nothing stops it from holding a stale pointer into P.

Serialize the collapse - the PMD rebuild, TLB flush and PTE-table free - under cpa_lock, the same lock __change_page_attr() now takes unconditionally since commit ("x86/mm/pat: stop gating cpa_lock on debug_pagealloc_enabled()"), so a concurrent walker can no longer hold a pointer into a table the collapse is about to free.

CVSS Base Scores

version 3.1