# CVE-2026-72010: cgroup/cpuset: rebind mm mempolicy to effective_mems, not mems_allowed

Status: published. Published: 2026-08-15. Updated: 2026-11-06.

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

cgroup/cpuset: rebind mm mempolicy to effective_mems, not mems_allowed

Creating a child cpuset where cpuset.mems is never set leads to a div/0
when a VMA mempolicy with MPOL_F_RELATIVE_NODES rebinds in response to a
CPU hotplug event.

Reproduction steps:
 1) Create a cgroup w/ cpuset controls (do not set cpuset.mems)
 2) Move the task into the child cpuset
 3) Create a VMA mempolicy for that task with MPOL_F_RELATIVE_NODES
 4) unplug and hotplug a cpu
      echo 0 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu1/online
      echo 1 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu1/online
 5) mempolicy rebind does a div/0 in mpol_relative_nodemask on the
    call to __nodes_fold()

The cpuset code passes (cs->mems_allowed) which is not guaranteed to have
nodes to the rebind routine.  Use cs->effective_mems instead, which is
guaranteed to have a non-empty nodemask once we reach that code path.

[ david: add a comment, slightly rephrase description ]

## Remediation

No remediation reported in collected sources

## Affected products and versions

- Linux / Linux: ≥ ae1c802382f7af60aa54879fb4f5920a9df1ff48; < b7adeba2a21c98c7b20f18e27e3ead86bdb5e08d (affected, git); ≥ ae1c802382f7af60aa54879fb4f5920a9df1ff48; < fcc8c310539c3cc523419113b227161a96b50550 (affected, git); ≥ ae1c802382f7af60aa54879fb4f5920a9df1ff48; < 4b06449384b9ee5b3372bab60601ba5cd4162086 (affected, git); ≥ ae1c802382f7af60aa54879fb4f5920a9df1ff48; < 02f67c4f88be8e3dbd91951d13cdcc5bcc82e9c7 (affected, git); ≥ ae1c802382f7af60aa54879fb4f5920a9df1ff48; < fc680afc510157f6b137956011c09abc23eb0842 (affected, git); ≥ ae1c802382f7af60aa54879fb4f5920a9df1ff48; < c844b7d9a9586de15dd28c06da5cc7f6ab28787d (affected, git); ≥ ae1c802382f7af60aa54879fb4f5920a9df1ff48; < c17f06d8a085d6be58b544a440ce243f5e441a60 (affected, git); ≥ ae1c802382f7af60aa54879fb4f5920a9df1ff48; < b983c56426383e4a06fa5970c4e33cee879b1482 (affected, git). Source: CNA: Linux
- Linux / Linux: 3.17 (affected); ≥ 0; < 3.17 (unaffected, semver); ≥ 5.10.261; ≤ 5.10.* (unaffected, semver); ≥ 5.15.212; ≤ 5.15.* (unaffected, semver); ≥ 6.1.178; ≤ 6.1.* (unaffected, semver); ≥ 6.6.145; ≤ 6.6.* (unaffected, semver); ≥ 6.12.97; ≤ 6.12.* (unaffected, semver); ≥ 6.18.40; ≤ 6.18.* (unaffected, semver); ≥ 7.1.5; ≤ 7.1.* (unaffected, semver); ≥ 7.2; ≤ * (unaffected, original_commit_for_fix). Source: CNA: Linux

## Severity and prioritization

- CISA KEV: No listing in collected sources

- EPSS: 0.22% as of 2026-11-06; percentile 12.54%

- SSVC: exploitation none; automatable no; technical impact partial; source ADP: CISA-ADP

- Weaknesses: Not reported

## Exploit evidence

No exploit evidence in collected sources. This is not proof of no exploitation.

## References

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b7adeba2a21c98c7b20f18e27e3ead86bdb5e08d (CNA: Linux)

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/fcc8c310539c3cc523419113b227161a96b50550 (CNA: Linux)

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4b06449384b9ee5b3372bab60601ba5cd4162086 (CNA: Linux)

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/02f67c4f88be8e3dbd91951d13cdcc5bcc82e9c7 (CNA: Linux)

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/fc680afc510157f6b137956011c09abc23eb0842 (CNA: Linux)

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c844b7d9a9586de15dd28c06da5cc7f6ab28787d (CNA: Linux)

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c17f06d8a085d6be58b544a440ce243f5e441a60 (CNA: Linux)

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b983c56426383e4a06fa5970c4e33cee879b1482 (CNA: Linux)

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/02f67c4f88be8e3dbd91951d13cdcc5bcc82e9c7 (416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67)

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4b06449384b9ee5b3372bab60601ba5cd4162086 (416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67)

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b7adeba2a21c98c7b20f18e27e3ead86bdb5e08d (416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67)

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b983c56426383e4a06fa5970c4e33cee879b1482 (416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67)

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c17f06d8a085d6be58b544a440ce243f5e441a60 (416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67)

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c844b7d9a9586de15dd28c06da5cc7f6ab28787d (416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67)

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/fc680afc510157f6b137956011c09abc23eb0842 (416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67)

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/fcc8c310539c3cc523419113b227161a96b50550 (416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67)

## Provenance

- CNA: Linux: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-72010; retrieved 2026-11-06; source updated 2026-11-06

- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-72010; retrieved 2026-11-06; source updated 2026-11-06

- FIRST EPSS: https://api.first.org/data/v1/epss?cve=CVE-2026-72010; retrieved 2026-11-06; source updated Not reported

Revision: 998b3a44130f8bc28409e1186f656d87446b3ba48c32ddcdb0d1123e0e8a14d4

Canonical: https://y2.dev/cve/CVE-2026-72010

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