Highly exploitable, CVE-2026-43385 poses a critical security risk that could lead to severe breaches.
Status: Received on 08 May 2026, 15:16 UTC
Last updated: 🕗 11 May 2026, 08:16 UTC
Originally published on: 🕒 08 May 2026, 15:16 UTC
Time between publication and last update: 2 days
CVSS Release: version 3
416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
Secondary
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
CVE-2026-43385: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: Fix rcu_tasks stall in threaded busypoll I was debugging a NIC driver when I noticed that when I enable threaded busypoll, bpftrace hangs when starting up. dmesg showed: rcu_tasks_wait_gp: rcu_tasks grace period number 85 (since boot) is 10658 jiffies old. rcu_tasks_wait_gp: rcu_tasks grace period number 85 (since boot) is 40793 jiffies old. rcu_tasks_wait_gp: rcu_tasks grace period number 85 (since boot) is 131273 jiffies old. rcu_tasks_wait_gp: rcu_tasks grace period number 85 (since boot) is 402058 jiffies old. INFO: rcu_tasks detected stalls on tasks: 00000000769f52cd: .N nvcsw: 2/2 holdout: 1 idle_cpu: -1/64 task:napi/eth2-8265 state:R running task stack:0 pid:48300 tgid:48300 ppid:2 task_flags:0x208040 flags:0x00004000 Call Trace: <TASK> ? napi_threaded_poll_loop+0x27c/0x2c0 ? __pfx_napi_threaded_poll+0x10/0x10 ? napi_threaded_poll+0x26/0x80 ? kthread+0xfa/0x240 ? __pfx_kthread+0x10/0x10 ? ret_from_fork+0x31/0x50 ? __pfx_kthread+0x10/0x10 ? ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30 </TASK> The cause is that in threaded busypoll, the main loop is in napi_threaded_poll rather than napi_threaded_poll_loop, where the latter rarely iterates more than once within its loop. For rcu_softirq_qs_periodic inside napi_threaded_poll_loop to report its qs state, the last_qs must be 100ms behind, and this can't happen because napi_threaded_poll_loop rarely iterates in threaded busypoll, and each time napi_threaded_poll_loop is called last_qs is reset to latest jiffies. This patch changes so that in threaded busypoll, last_qs is saved in the outer napi_threaded_poll, and whether busy_poll_last_qs is NULL indicates whether napi_threaded_poll_loop is called for busypoll. This way last_qs would not reset to latest jiffies on each invocation of napi_threaded_poll_loop.
The exploitability of CVE-2026-43385 depends on two key factors: attack complexity (the level of effort required to execute an exploit) and privileges required (the access level an attacker needs).
With low attack complexity and no required privileges, CVE-2026-43385 is an easy target for cybercriminals. Organizations should prioritize immediate mitigation measures to prevent unauthorized access and data breaches.
A lower complexity and fewer privilege requirements make exploitation easier. Security teams should evaluate these aspects to determine the urgency of mitigation strategies, such as patch management and access control policies.
Attack Complexity (AC) measures the difficulty in executing an exploit. A high AC means that specific conditions must be met, making an attack more challenging, while a low AC means the vulnerability can be exploited with minimal effort.
Privileges Required (PR) determine the level of system access necessary for an attack. Vulnerabilities requiring no privileges are more accessible to attackers, whereas high privilege requirements limit exploitation to authorized users with elevated access.
Above is the CVSS Sub-score Breakdown for CVE-2026-43385, illustrating how Base, Impact, and Exploitability factors combine to form the overall severity rating. A higher sub-score typically indicates a more severe or easier-to-exploit vulnerability.
Below is the Impact Analysis for CVE-2026-43385, showing how Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability might be affected if the vulnerability is exploited. Higher values usually signal greater potential damage.
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