CVE-2014-8173: Linux Kernel

High severity, CVSS 7.2. EPSS: 0.4% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days.

The pmd_none_or_trans_huge_or_clear_bad function in include/asm-generic/pgtable.h in the Linux kernel before 3.13 on NUMA systems does not properly determine whether a Page Middle Directory (PMD) entry is a transparent huge-table entry, which allows local users to cause a denial of service (NULL pointer dereference and system crash) or possibly have unspecified other impact via a crafted MADV_WILLNEED madvise system call that leverages the absence of a page-table lock.

Affected products

• Linux Linux Kernel: from 3.9, before 3.10.76 (fixed in 3.10.76); from 3.11, before 3.12.43 (fixed in 3.12.43)

Published 2015-03-16. Last modified 2026-06-17.