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

powerpc, perf: Check that current->mm is alive before getting user callchain

It may happen that mm is already released, which leads to kernel panic.
This adds the NULL check for current->mm, similarly to
commit 20afc60f892d ("x86, perf: Check that current->mm is alive before getting user callchain").

I was getting this panic when running a profiling BPF program
(profile.py from bcc-tools):

[26215.051935] Kernel attempted to read user page (588) - exploit attempt? (uid: 0)
[26215.051950] BUG: Kernel NULL pointer dereference on read at 0x00000588
[26215.051952] Faulting instruction address: 0xc00000000020fac0
[26215.051957] Oops: Kernel access of bad area, sig: 11 [#1]
[...]
[26215.052049] Call Trace:
[26215.052050] [c000000061da6d30] [c00000000020fc10] perf_callchain_user_64+0x2d0/0x490 (unreliable)
[26215.052054] [c000000061da6dc0] [c00000000020f92c] perf_callchain_user+0x1c/0x30
[26215.052057] [c000000061da6de0] [c0000000005ab2a0] get_perf_callchain+0x100/0x360
[26215.052063] [c000000061da6e70] [c000000000573bc8] bpf_get_stackid+0x88/0xf0
[26215.052067] [c000000061da6ea0] [c008000000042258] bpf_prog_16d4ab9ab662f669_do_perf_event+0xf8/0x274
[...]

In addition, move storing the top-level stack entry to generic
perf_callchain_user to make sure the top-evel entry is always captured,
even if current->mm is NULL.

[Maddy: fixed message to avoid checkpatch format style error]

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History

Sat, 09 May 2026 00:15:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Weaknesses CWE-826
References
Metrics threat_severity

None

cvssV3_1

{'score': 7.0, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H'}

threat_severity

Moderate


Fri, 08 May 2026 17:30:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Weaknesses CWE-476

Fri, 08 May 2026 14:45:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: powerpc, perf: Check that current->mm is alive before getting user callchain It may happen that mm is already released, which leads to kernel panic. This adds the NULL check for current->mm, similarly to commit 20afc60f892d ("x86, perf: Check that current->mm is alive before getting user callchain"). I was getting this panic when running a profiling BPF program (profile.py from bcc-tools): [26215.051935] Kernel attempted to read user page (588) - exploit attempt? (uid: 0) [26215.051950] BUG: Kernel NULL pointer dereference on read at 0x00000588 [26215.051952] Faulting instruction address: 0xc00000000020fac0 [26215.051957] Oops: Kernel access of bad area, sig: 11 [#1] [...] [26215.052049] Call Trace: [26215.052050] [c000000061da6d30] [c00000000020fc10] perf_callchain_user_64+0x2d0/0x490 (unreliable) [26215.052054] [c000000061da6dc0] [c00000000020f92c] perf_callchain_user+0x1c/0x30 [26215.052057] [c000000061da6de0] [c0000000005ab2a0] get_perf_callchain+0x100/0x360 [26215.052063] [c000000061da6e70] [c000000000573bc8] bpf_get_stackid+0x88/0xf0 [26215.052067] [c000000061da6ea0] [c008000000042258] bpf_prog_16d4ab9ab662f669_do_perf_event+0xf8/0x274 [...] In addition, move storing the top-level stack entry to generic perf_callchain_user to make sure the top-evel entry is always captured, even if current->mm is NULL. [Maddy: fixed message to avoid checkpatch format style error]
Title powerpc, perf: Check that current->mm is alive before getting user callchain
First Time appeared Linux
Linux linux Kernel
CPEs cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
Vendors & Products Linux
Linux linux Kernel
References

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cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: Linux

Published:

Updated: 2026-05-08T14:21:52.954Z

Reserved: 2026-05-01T14:12:56.008Z

Link: CVE-2026-43416

cve-icon Vulnrichment

No data.

cve-icon NVD

Status : Received

Published: 2026-05-08T15:16:53.597

Modified: 2026-05-08T15:16:53.597

Link: CVE-2026-43416

cve-icon Redhat

Severity : Moderate

Publid Date: 2026-05-08T00:00:00Z

Links: CVE-2026-43416 - Bugzilla

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

Updated: 2026-05-08T20:00:11Z

Weaknesses

No weakness.