Executive brief
A vulnerability was identified in the Linux kernel's ACPI component, which manages power and hardware configuration. Under specific conditions, this flaw could cause the system to crash (a 'NULL pointer dereference'), potentially leading to a denial-of-service. This affects the stability of the operating system but does not directly expose customer data.
Technical details
A NULL pointer dereference vulnerability existed in the ACPICA (ACPI Component Architecture) subsystem of the Linux kernel. Specifically, the function 'acpi_ev_address_space_dispatch' in 'drivers/acpi/acpica/evregion.c' failed to validate the 'field_obj' pointer before accessing it during Platform Communications Channel (PCC) operation region dispatching. An attacker or a malformed ACPI table could trigger this missed execution path, resulting in a kernel panic (DoS). The fix introduces a check to ensure 'field_obj' is not NULL before proceeding with PCC-specific logic. Patches have been backported to multiple stable kernel branches.
Affected products
- Linux Linux Kernel Fixed in various stable branches including 5.10.y, 5.15.y, 6.1.y, 6.6.y, 6.7.y, and 6.8.y
Timeline
- 2026-01-14: other: Patch authored
- 2026-05-27: disclosed: CVE published
References
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/56024dbe8c76cff22f53ba81a95d9efd4d0c9c44
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7d99cbe717c1b15a66559215df32312d8cf7e525
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b24595b86920911d2b04f862422b896a0620e9ad
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/cce354524da4d10fd2c7eb835e2e4e8ab8c0ce97
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f2cf475d23b8486dfa414f7ac09f918ffd3c32a5
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f851e03bce968ff9b3faad1b616062e1244fd38d