CVE-2026-98510
Description
A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's Intel Xe graphics driver. When closing a GPU virtual memory space, page tables were destroyed before contested virtual memory areas were properly unlinked from shared buffer objects. A concurrent thread evicting a shared buffer object can attempt to access the already-freed page tables, triggering a NULL pointer dereference. A local user can exploit this race condition to crash the operating system, resulting in a Denial of Service (DoS).
Statement
This vulnerability is evaluated as a Moderate severity flaw for Red Hat environments because exploitation requires an authenticated local user with access to Intel Xe graphics devices and only leads to a denial of service without compromising confidentiality or integrity. Affected hosts must be running systems equipped with compatible Intel Xe hardware and an active driver instance. Furthermore, triggering the timing condition during GPU virtual memory cleanup leads to a kernel crash rather than arbitrary privilege escalation.
Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details
Info alert:Important note
CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authority (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications).
The following CVSS metrics and score provided are preliminary and subject to review.
CVSS v3 Score Breakdown
| Red Hat | NVD | cve.org | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Score | 4.7 | N/A | 7.8 |
| Attack Vector | Local | N/A | Local |
| Attack Complexity | High | N/A | Low |
| Privileges Required | Low | N/A | Low |
| User Interaction | None | N/A | None |
| Scope | Unchanged | N/A | Unchanged |
| Confidentiality | None | N/A | High |
| Integrity Impact | None | N/A | High |
| Availability Impact | High | N/A | High |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
cve.org: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Availability
Technical Impact: DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart
NULL pointer dereferences usually result in the failure of the process unless exception handling (on some platforms) is available and implemented. Even when exception handling is being used, it can still be very difficult to return the software to a safe state of operation.
Integrity,Confidentiality
Technical Impact: Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands; Read Memory; Modify Memory
In rare circumstances, when NULL is equivalent to the 0x0 memory address and privileged code can access it, then writing or reading memory is possible, which may lead to code execution.
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