Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2026-45851

HIGH · 7.1 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-05-27
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 6.6.128 / 6.12.75 or later.
See remediation →
73/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Zero-click Patch available

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: efi: Fix reservation of unaccepted memory table The reserve_unaccepted() function incorrectly calculates the size of the memblock reservation for the unaccepted memory table. It aligns the size of the table, but fails to account for cases where the table's starting physical address (efi.unaccepted) is not page-aligned. If the table starts at an offset within a page and its end crosses into a subsequent page that the aligned size does not cover, the end of the table will not be reserved. This can lead to the table being overwritten or inaccessible, causing a kernel panic in accept_memory(). This issue was observed when starting Intel TDX VMs with specific memory sizes (e.g., > 64GB). Fix this by calculating the end address first (including the unaligned start) and then aligning it up, ensuring the entire range is covered by the reservation.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis
How this class of weakness works · CWE-125

The code reads past the end (or before the start) of a buffer, returning memory that was never meant to be exposed. Attackers use it to leak secrets like keys or to defeat memory-protection defences. Remediation is validating indices and lengths before every read.

General guidance for the out-of-bounds read class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Linux KernelOperating system
Affected:>= 6.6.1, < 6.6.128>= 6.7, < 6.12.75>= 6.13, < 6.18.14>= 6.19, < 6.19.4= 6.6

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:H

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 6.6.128 / 6.12.75 / 6.18.14 or later
Fixed in 6.6.1286.12.756.18.14
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

6.6.128 / 6.12.75 / 6.18.14 / 6.19.4 (depending on your branch)

  1. Identify the currently running Linux kernel version using 'uname -r'
  2. Determine which kernel branch your version belongs to (6.6.x, 6.7-6.12.x, 6.13-6.18.x, or 6.19.x)
  3. For 6.6.x branch: upgrade to kernel version 6.6.128 or later
  4. For 6.7-6.12.x branch: upgrade to kernel version 6.12.75 or later
  5. For 6.13-6.18.x branch: upgrade to kernel version 6.18.14 or later
  6. For 6.19.x branch: upgrade to kernel version 6.19.4 or later
  7. Reboot the system to apply the new kernel
  8. Verify the fix by checking 'uname -r' shows a patched version and monitoring for any reservation-related errors during boot
Caveat Kernel upgrades may introduce regressions; test in staging first. On TDX VMs, ensure firmware and hypervisor support the new kernel version.

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

We can perform the upgrade in your staging environment and verify nothing breaks — typical engagement from $3,200. Get the upgrade done

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-45851 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2026-45851 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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