CVE-2026-43272 | ring-buffer: Fix possible dereference of uninitialized pointer

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ring-buffer: Fix possible dereference of uninitialized pointer There is a pointer head_page in rb_meta_validate_events() which is not initialized at the beginning of a function. This pointer can be dereferenced if there is a failure during reader page validation. In this case the control is passed to "invalid" label where the pointer is dereferenced in a loop. To fix the issue initialize orig_head and head_page before calling rb_validate_buffer. Found by Linux Verification Center (linuxtesting.org) with SVACE.

Published: 2026-05-06 Last update: 2026-05-08 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
NVD Status：Analyzed，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2026-43272 is rated Low Risk (23.4/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.02%). Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2026-43272

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-05-07 — 0.02% —

Full EPSS history (1 record total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2026-43272

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 1.8 3.6 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2026-43272

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2026-43272

GHSA-fwqr-8mv5-j4p7 · Severity: medium — In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ring-buffer: Fix possible...

OS Trackers for CVE-2026-43272

vendor priority summary link
debian unimportant CVE-2026-43272 unimportant priority: Debian including 1 source packages (linux), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 4, open 1. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2026-43272
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-43272
suse medium CVE-2026-43272 severity moderate: SUSE including 20 source package names (cluster-md-kmp-default, dlm-kmp-default, …), 184 product×package rows across 36 product lines (SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP7, SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4-LTSS, … (36 product lines)): Known Not Affected 184. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-43272/
ubuntu medium CVE-2026-43272 medium priority: Ubuntu including 161 source packages (linux, linux-allwinner-5.19, …), 1449 status rows across 9 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, questing, resolute, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 1048, ignored 169, not-affected 122, released 83, needed 22, needs-triage 5. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2026-43272

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2026-43272

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 6.12, < 6.18.16 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.19, < 6.19.6 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2026-43272

cvelogic Threat Intelligence