cpufreq: intel_pstate: Fix NULL pointer dereference in update_cpu_qos_request()

{
  "id": "2aefb8fa65df7d42158c435f35276df5931a3db32275ae32a1f9d6d21012c093",
  "url": "https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-43401",
  "method": "structured",
  "payload": {
    "kind": "advisory",
    "title": "cpufreq: intel_pstate: Fix NULL pointer dereference in update_cpu_qos_request()",
    "summary": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: cpufreq: intel_pstate: Fix NULL pointer dereference in update_cpu_qos_request() The update_cpu_qos_request() function attempts to initialize the 'freq' variable by dereferencing 'cpudata' before verifying if the 'policy' is valid. This issue occurs on systems booted with the \"nosmt\" parameter, where all_cpu_data[cpu] is NULL for the SMT sibling threads. As a result, any call to update_qos_requests() will result in a NULL pointer dereference as the code will attempt to access pstate.turbo_freq using the NULL cpudata pointer. Also, pstate.turbo_freq may be updated by intel_pstate_get_hwp_cap() after initializing the 'freq' variable, so it is better to defer the 'freq' until intel_pstate_get_hwp_cap() has been called. Fix this by deferring the 'freq' assignment until after the policy and driver_data have been validated. [ rjw: Added one paragraph to the changelog ]",
    "evidence": "osv:CVE-2026-43401",
    "products": [
      {
        "name": {
          "value": "Kernel",
          "evidence": "/affected/1/package/name"
        },
        "prerequisites": [],
        "fixed_versions": [
          {
            "value": "6.18.19",
            "evidence": "/affected/1/ranges"
          },
          {
            "value": "6.19.9",
            "evidence": "/affected/1/ranges"
          }
        ],
        "affected_versions": []
      }
    ],
    "severity": "unknown",
    "structured": {
      "id": "CVE-2026-43401",
      "aliases": [
        "CVE-2026-43401"
      ],
      "affected": [
        {
          "ranges": [
            {
              "repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
              "type": "GIT",
              "events": [
                {
                  "introduced": "ae1bdd23b99f64335c69d546bff99ca39b894c18"
                },
                {
                  "fixed": "6bfda7ce56e7d14a677b7bcd6c7a5009cc29aa88"
                },
                {
                  "fixed": "42738dffb7b0766a45882dff7989401d78f66f92"
                },
                {
                  "fixed": "ab39cc4cb8ceecdc2b61747433e7237f1ac2b789"
                }
              ]
            }
          ],
          "database_specific": {
            "source": "https://storage.googleapis.com/cve-osv-conversion/osv-output/CVE-2026-43401.json"
          }
        },
        {
          "ranges": [
            {
              "type": "ECOSYSTEM",
              "events": [
                {
                  "introduced": "6.18.0"
                },
                {
                  "fixed": "6.18.19"
                }
              ]
            },
            {
              "type": "ECOSYSTEM",
              "events": [
                {
                  "introduced": "6.19.0"
                },
                {
                  "fixed": "6.19.9"
                }
              ]
            }
          ],
          "package": {
            "name": "Kernel",
            "ecosystem": "Linux"
          },
          "database_specific": {
            "source": "https://storage.googleapis.com/cve-osv-conversion/osv-output/CVE-2026-43401.json"
          }
        }
      ],
      "modified": "2026-10-28T02:30:44.133283380Z",
      "provider": "osv",
      "references": [
        "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/42738dffb7b0766a45882dff7989401d78f66f92",
        "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6bfda7ce56e7d14a677b7bcd6c7a5009cc29aa88",
        "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ab39cc4cb8ceecdc2b61747433e7237f1ac2b789",
        "https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2026/43xxx/CVE-2026-43401.json",
        "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-43401",
        "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git"
      ],
      "provider_metadata": {
        "cna_assigner": "Linux",
        "osv_generated_from": "https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2026/43xxx/CVE-2026-43401.json"
      }
    },
    "related_cves": [
      {
        "value": "CVE-2026-43401",
        "evidence": "/id"
      }
    ],
    "security_relevant": true,
    "severity_evidence": null
  },
  "source_id": "core-osv",
  "document_id": 511674,
  "published_at": "2026-05-08T14:21:42.876+00:00"
}