The Linux kernel’s DAMON memory analysis subsystem contains a logic error that allows an unaligned sampling address to be passed into a page‑table walk. Because the walk size is derived from the misaligned address, the code can clear the AF bit of page‑table entries beyond the intended block, writing into memory that belongs to the next page‑table page. The result is a kernel write fault or silent corruption of adjacent page‑table entries, which may trigger a kernel panic or corrupt kernel data structures. The primary impact is a crash of the damon daemon and possible system instability, and the description does not indicate that it can be leveraged for privilege escalation.

The flaw affects Linux kernel versions that build the DAMON daemon on ARM64 and contain the legacy contpte helper logic prior to commit 6f0e1142173a. Any kernel compiled with DAMON support and running on an ARM64 system—such as standard Linux distributions or custom builds that include this code—could be vulnerable if the patch has not been applied. The affected systems are Linux kernels that include the DAMON subsystem and use the old contpte implementation on ARM64.

The CVSS score of 4.7 indicates a medium‑level severity, and the EPSS score of less than 1 % suggests that exploitation is unlikely in the wild. The vulnerability is not in CISA’s KEV list. The likely attack vector is local, requiring kernel or privileged access to trigger the vulnerability. Because the bug manifests only when DAMON is active, a local attacker with kernel access or the ability to configure the boot process to load DAMON could trigger it. The threat is therefore low to moderate, primarily resulting in denial‑of‑service rather than privilege escalation, and no public exploits have been reported.