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Fencer Intel
medium 5.5

CVE-2026-43271 json

md-cluster: fix NULL pointer dereference in process_metadata_update

published 6mo ago modified 3d ago also EUVD-2026-27666

cvss
5.5
version 3.1, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.1%
EPSS 0.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 1%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

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

md-cluster: fix NULL pointer dereference in process_metadata_update

The function process_metadata_update() blindly dereferences the 'thread' pointer (acquired via rcu_dereference_protected) within the wait_event() macro.

While the code comment states "daemon thread must exist", there is a valid race condition window during the MD array startup sequence (md_run):

1. bitmap_load() is called, which invokes md_cluster_ops->join(). 2. join() starts the "cluster_recv" thread (recv_daemon). 3. At this point, recv_daemon is active and processing messages. 4. However, mddev->thread (the main MD thread) is not initialized until later in md_run().

If a METADATA_UPDATED message is received from a remote node during this specific window, process_metadata_update() will be called while mddev->thread is still NULL, leading to a kernel panic.

To fix this, we must validate the 'thread' pointer. If it is NULL, we release the held lock (no_new_dev_lockres) and return early, safely ignoring the update request as the array is not yet fully ready to process it.

Patch / fix

  • Linux Linux 6.1.191, 6.6.128, 6.12.75, 6.18.16, 6.19.6, 7.0
  • linux Debian 13 6.12.85-1
  • linux Debian 14 6.19.6-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2026-43271

  • linux Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-134.134
  • linux-aws Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-1060.63
  • linux-gcp Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-1063.69
  • linux-gke Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-1058.64
  • linux-ibm Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-1060.61
  • linux-azure Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-1063.71
  • linux-gkeop Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-1045.48
  • linux-raspi Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-1060.64

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2026-43271

Ubuntu security data © Canonical Ltd., from https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

  • kernel-64kb SLE Module for Basesystem 15 SP7 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
  • kernel-syms SLE Module for Development Tools 15 SP7 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
  • kernel-azure SLE Module for Public Cloud 15 SP7 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
  • kernel-source SLE Module for Development Tools 15 SP7, SLE Module for Basesystem 15 SP7 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
  • kernel-default SLE Workstation Extension 15 SP7, SLE Module for Legacy 15 SP7, SLE Module for Basesystem 15 SP7 +2 more 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
  • kernel-zfcpdump SLE Module for Basesystem 15 SP7 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
  • kernel-obs-build SLE Module for Development Tools 15 SP7 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
  • kernel-default-base SLE Module for Basesystem 15 SP7 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1.150700.17.45.1

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2026:4254-1SUSE-SU-2026:23887-1SUSE-SU-2026:23902-1SUSE-SU-2026:23897-1SUSE-SU-2026:23881-1SUSE-SU-2026:4120-1

  • kernel-rt openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.38.1
  • dtb-aarch64 openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.38.1
  • kernel-64kb openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.38.1
  • kernel-syms openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.38.1
  • kernel-azure openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.38.1
  • kernel-obs-qa openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.38.1
  • kernel-source openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.38.1
  • kernel-default openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.38.1

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2026:21910-1

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Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2026-43271 updated cvss 5.5

kernel: md-cluster: fix NULL pointer dereference in process_metadata_update

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, kernel-core, kernel-tools, +29 more
    affected: workaround, no fix available, no fix planned “To mitigate this issue, prevent the md_cluster module from being loaded. See https://access.redhat.com/solutions/41278 for instructions.”
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 perf, kernel, python-perf, kernel-kdump, kernel-firmware, kernel-bootwrapper, +1 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, python-perf, kernel-kdump, +8 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 rv, perf, rtla, kernel, bpftool, libperf, +83 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 kernel
    not affected: vulnerable code not present

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

CISA SSVC

Exploitation
none
Automatable
no
Technical impact
partial
Assessed
3d ago

Exploit prediction

0.12% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 1% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 3.1 5.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Affected products

  • Linux Linux

Classification

Weakness
Technology feeds

References

Sources

Fencer Intel keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.