In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
userfaultfd: fix checks for huge PMDs
Patch series "userfaultfd: fix races around pmd_trans_huge() check", v2.
The pmd_trans_huge() code in mfill_atomic() is wrong in three different
ways depending on kernel version:
- The pmd_trans_huge() check is racy and can lead to a BUG_ON() (if you hit
the right two race windows) - I've tested this in a kernel build with
some extra mdelay() calls. See the commit message for a description
of the race scenario.
On older kernels (before 6.5), I think the same bug can even
theoretically lead to accessing transhuge page contents as a page table
if you hit the right 5 narrow race windows (I haven't tested this case).
- As pointed out by Qi Zheng, pmd_trans_huge() is not sufficient for
detecting PMDs that don't point to page tables.
On older kernels (before 6.5), you'd just have to win a single fairly
wide race to hit this.
I've tested this on 6.1 stable by racing migration (with a mdelay()
patched into try_to_migrate()) against UFFDIO_ZEROPAGE - on my x86
VM, that causes a kernel oops in ptlock_ptr().
- On newer kernels (>=6.5), for shmem mappings, khugepaged is allowed
to yank page tables out from under us (though I haven't tested that),
so I think the BUG_ON() checks in mfill_atomic() are just wrong.
I decided to write two separate fixes for these (one fix for bugs 1+2, one
fix for bug 3), so that the first fix can be backported to kernels
affected by bugs 1+2.
This patch (of 2):
This fixes two issues.
I discovered that the following race can occur:
mfill_atomic other thread
============ ============
pmdp_get_lockless() [reads none pmd]
__pte_alloc [no-op]
BUG_ON(pmd_none(*dst_pmd))
I have experimentally verified this in a kernel with extra mdelay() calls;
the BUG_ON(pmd_none(*dst_pmd)) triggers.
On kernels newer than commit 0d940a9b270b ("mm/pgtable: allow
pte_offset_map[_lock]() to fail"), this can't lead to anything worse than
a BUG_ON(), since the page table access helpers are actually designed to
deal with page tables concurrently disappearing; but on older kernels
(<=6.4), I think we could probably theoretically race past the two
BUG_ON() checks and end up treating a hugepage as a page table.
The second issue is that, as Qi Zheng pointed out, there are other types
of huge PMDs that pmd_trans_huge() can't catch: devmap PMDs and swap PMDs
(in particular, migration PMDs).
On <=6.4, this is worse than the first issue: If mfill_atomic() runs on a
PMD that contains a migration entry (which just requires winning a single,
fairly wide race), it will pass the PMD to pte_offset_map_lock(), which
assumes that the PMD points to a page table.
Breakage follows: First, the kernel tries to take the PTE lock (which will
crash or maybe worse if there is no "struct page" for the address bits in
the migration entry PMD - I think at least on X86 there usually is no
corresponding "struct page" thanks to the PTE inversion mitigation, amd64
looks different).
If that didn't crash, the kernel would next try to write a PTE into what
it wrongly thinks is a page table.
As part of fixing these issues, get rid of the check for pmd_trans_huge()
before __pte_alloc() - that's redundant, we're going to have to check for
that after the __pte_alloc() anyway.
Backport note: pmdp_get_lockless() is pmd_read_atomic() in older kernels.
What the EG score is made of (scorer v4.0: the three questions the 0–10 score mixes, published apart · methodology)
The EG score (4.7): severity, escalated by confirmed exploitation. This CVE's 4.7 is its impact severity (EG Severity), not escalated.
- EG Severity
- 4.7 MEDIUMCVSS-B, impact only: no KEV listing, EPSS or EG-KEV tier raises it.GitHub Security Advisory CVSS
- EG Likelihood
- 0.2% within 30 daysSource: FIRST EPSS (model v2026.06.15, score date 2026-10-29). FIRST's exploitation probability, not an EchelonGraph model.
- Confirmed exploitation
- None on record (CISA KEV, EG-KEV Tier 1)Reported apart from the likelihood: an observed fact, not a probability.
- EG Priority
- SSVC Track at medium mission impactTrack at every mission impact level.CISA BOD 26-04: 60 days if the affected system is publicly exposed; Fix on system upgrade if it is not.Each input and its source, and whom BOD 26-04 binds: the SSVC and BOD 26-04 blocks below.
SSVC (CISA's decision table, applied by EchelonGraph)Track at every mission impact level.
A fix is available. Apply it within your standard update timelines.
Exploitation none (CISA Vulnrichment) · Automatable no (CISA Vulnrichment) · Technical impact partial (CISA Vulnrichment). All three are CISA's SSVC values (Vulnrichment). EchelonGraph applied CISA's decision table to them; CISA publishes SSVC inputs and the table, not a decision for each CVE. Mission impact is CISA's Mission & Well-being decision point, and only you can judge it. CISA's table makes it high when Mission Prevalence is Essential — the vulnerable component "directly provides capabilities that constitute at least one MEF for at least one entity" (MEF: mission essential function) — or when Public Well-Being Impact is Irreversible: "multiple fatalities are likely", the cyber-physical system "is likely lost or destroyed", "extreme or serious externalities" are imposed on other parties, or social systems such as elections or the financial grid "are destabilized and potentially collapse". CISA's decision table
BOD 26-04 (CISA's remediation timeline, Table 1)60 days if the affected system is publicly exposed; Fix on system upgrade if it is not.
The score's inputs: In CISA KEV no (CISA's KEV catalog) · Automatable no (CISA Vulnrichment) · Technical impact partial (CISA Vulnrichment). Whether your system is publicly exposed is yours to answer. BOD 26-04 binds US Federal Civilian Executive Branch agencies; for anyone else it is CISA's published timeline, a reference rather than an obligation. The directive · how EchelonGraph applies it