CVE-2026-43303: mm/page_alloc: clear page->private in free_pages_prepare()

Versions reported by the vendor

Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (Linux). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.

• Linux Linux

  • 5.18affected
  • 3b8000ae185cb068adbda5f966a3835053c85fd4 and later · before e7790ab165713b79b1617ce659742ceb3a859d05affected · git
  • 3b8000ae185cb068adbda5f966a3835053c85fd4 and later · before 3edb8ebbf79b9016040e8f3421d723ae3d542b32affected · git
  • 3b8000ae185cb068adbda5f966a3835053c85fd4 and later · before f9719e32a67b4b00b3c9b133e8b5ffa72a26b67baffected · git
  • 3b8000ae185cb068adbda5f966a3835053c85fd4 and later · before 23b82b7a26182ad840ae67d390d7ec9771e8c00faffected · git
  • 3b8000ae185cb068adbda5f966a3835053c85fd4 and later · before d757c793853ec5483eb41ec2942c300b8fa720fbaffected · git
  • 3b8000ae185cb068adbda5f966a3835053c85fd4 and later · before ac1ea219590c09572ed5992dc233bbf7bb70fef9affected · git
  • before 5.18not affected · semver
  • 6.1.176 and later · up to and including 6.1.*not affected · semver
  • 6.6.143 and later · up to and including 6.6.*not affected · semver

Affected versions

NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.

• linux linux kernel5.18.1 and later · before 6.18.16
• linux linux kernel6.19 and later · before 6.19.6
• linux linux kernel5.18

Package-level exposure

OSV and GitHub Advisory data: ecosystem, package and range. SBOM matching uses this table.

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

• CVE-2026-31431crypto: algif_aead - Revert to operating out-of-placeKEV
  90Now
• CVE-2022-0847A flaw was found in the way the "flags" member of the new pipe buffer structure was lacking proper initialization in copy_page_to_iter_pipe…KEV
  89Now
• CVE-2021-22555Heap Out-Of-Bounds Write in Netfilter IP6T_SO_SET_REPLACEKEV
  85Now

Published before and after this one in the same product

• ← EarlierCVE-2026-43301May 8, 2026 · media: chips-media: wave5: Fix PM runtime usage count underflow
  22Monitor
• ← EarlierCVE-2026-43302May 8, 2026 · drm/v3d: Set DMA segment size to avoid debug warnings
  22Monitor
• Later →CVE-2026-43304May 8, 2026 · libceph: define and enforce CEPH_MAX_KEY_LEN
  39Monitor

Root cause

After a memory region is freed, another reference pointing to it is still used. By then, the same region may have been allocated for different data.

A representative example of this vulnerability class. Not the vendor's source code; it shows the faulty pattern and its fix.

1free(dev->buf);2/* ... another thread is still running ... */3process(dev->buf);

1lock(&dev->lock);2free(dev->buf);3dev->buf = NULL;4unlock(&dev->lock);

Attack context

MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.

MITRE has no CAPEC/ATT&CK mapping for this CWE.