CVE Database›CVE-2022-49760

CVE-2022-49760

kernel: mm/hugetlb: fix PTE marker handling in hugetlb_change_protection()

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Severity

Low

Red Hat Product Security

4.1

CVSS 3.1

Review impact separately from score.

Published · March 27, 2025

Updated · October 17, 2026

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

mm/hugetlb: fix PTE marker handling in hugetlb_change_protection()

Patch series "mm/hugetlb: uffd-wp fixes for hugetlb_change_protection()".

Playing with virtio-mem and background snapshots (using uffd-wp) on hugetlb in QEMU, I managed to trigger a VM_BUG_ON(). Looking into the details, hugetlb_change_protection() seems to not handle uffd-wp correctly in all cases.

Patch #1 fixes my test case. I don't have reproducers for patch #2, as it requires running into migration entries.

I did not yet check in detail yet if !hugetlb code requires similar care.

This patch (of 2):

There are two problematic cases when stumbling over a PTE marker in hugetlb_change_protection():

(1) We protect an uffd-wp PTE marker a second time using uffd-wp: we will end up in the "!huge_pte_none(pte)" case and mess up the PTE marker.

(2) We unprotect a uffd-wp PTE marker: we will similarly end up in the "!huge_pte_none(pte)" case even though we cleared the PTE, because the "pte" variable is stale. We'll mess up the PTE marker.

For example, if we later stumble over such a "wrongly modified" PTE marker, we'll treat it like a present PTE that maps some garbage page.

This can, for example, be triggered by mapping a memfd backed by huge pages, registering uffd-wp, uffd-wp'ing an unmapped page and (a) uffd-wp'ing it a second time; or (b) uffd-unprotecting it; or (c) unregistering uffd-wp. Then, ff we trigger fallocate(FALLOC_FL_PUNCH_HOLE) on that file range, we will run into a VM_BUG_ON:

[ 195.039560] page:00000000ba1f2987 refcount:1 mapcount:0 mapping:0000000000000000 index:0x0 pfn:0x0 [ 195.039565] flags: 0x7ffffc0001000(reserved|node=0|zone=0|lastcpupid=0x1fffff) [ 195.039568] raw: 0007ffffc0001000 ffffe742c0000008 ffffe742c0000008 0000000000000000 [ 195.039569] raw: 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 00000001ffffffff 0000000000000000 [ 195.039569] page dumped because: VM_BUG_ON_PAGE(compound && !PageHead(page)) [ 195.039573] ------------[ cut here ]------------ [ 195.039574] kernel BUG at mm/rmap.c:1346! [ 195.039579] invalid opcode: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP NOPTI [ 195.039581] CPU: 7 PID: 4777 Comm: qemu-system-x86 Not tainted 6.0.12-200.fc36.x86_64 #1 [ 195.039583] Hardware name: LENOVO 20WNS1F81N/20WNS1F81N, BIOS N35ET50W (1.50 ) 09/15/2022 [ 195.039584] RIP: 0010:page_remove_rmap+0x45b/0x550 [ 195.039588] Code: [...] [ 195.039589] RSP: 0018:ffffbc03c3633ba8 EFLAGS: 00010292 [ 195.039591] RAX: 0000000000000040 RBX: ffffe742c0000000 RCX: 0000000000000000 [ 195.039592] RDX: 0000000000000002 RSI: ffffffff8e7aac1a RDI: 00000000ffffffff [ 195.039592] RBP: 0000000000000001 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: ffffbc03c3633a08 [ 195.039593] R10: 0000000000000003 R11: ffffffff8f146328 R12: ffff9b04c42754b0 [ 195.039594] R13: ffffffff8fcc6328 R14: ffffbc03c3633c80 R15: ffff9b0484ab9100 [ 195.039595] FS: 00007fc7aaf68640(0000) GS:ffff9b0bbf7c0000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 [ 195.039596] CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 [ 195.039597] CR2: 000055d402c49110 CR3: 0000000159392003 CR4: 0000000000772ee0 [ 195.039598] PKRU: 55555554 [ 195.039599] Call Trace: [ 195.039600] <TASK> [ 195.039602] __unmap_hugepage_range+0x33b/0x7d0 [ 195.039605] unmap_hugepage_range+0x55/0x70 [ 195.039608] hugetlb_vmdelete_list+0x77/0xa0 [ 195.039611] hugetlbfs_fallocate+0x410/0x550 [ 195.039612] ? _raw_spin_unlock_irqrestore+0x23/0x40 [ 195.039616] vfs_fallocate+0x12e/0x360 [ 195.039618] __x64_sys_fallocate+0x40/0x70 [ 195.039620] do_syscall_64+0x58/0x80 [ 195.039623] ? syscall_exit_to_user_mode+0x17/0x40 [ 195.039624] ? do_syscall_64+0x67/0x80 [ 195.039626] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd [ 195.039628] RIP: 0033:0x7fc7b590651f [ 195.039653] Code: [...] [ 195.039654] RSP: 002b:00007fc7aaf66e70 EFLAGS: 00000293 ORIG_RAX: 000000000000011d [ 195.039655] RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 0000558ef4b7f370 RCX: 00007fc7b590651f ---truncated---

Statement

A low severity flaw was found in the Linux kernel's hugetlb memory management. The hugetlb_change_protection() function mishandles userfaultfd write-protect (uffd-wp) PTE markers: write-protecting an existing uffd-wp PTE marker a second time, or unprotecting one, takes the "!huge_pte_none(pte)" path and corrupts the marker. A later operation that encounters the corrupted marker, for example fallocate(FALLOC_FL_PUNCH_HOLE) on a hugetlb-backed memfd file range, then treats the marker as a present PTE mapping a garbage page and triggers a kernel BUG, resulting in a local denial of service (system crash). Exploitation requires local access and the ability to register userfaultfd write-protect mode on hugetlb-backed memory, an uncommon configuration, which is reflected in the Red Hat Low impact rating (CVSS 4.1, availability impact only). The substantially higher CVE.org score of 7.8 (high confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact) is not supported by the technical analysis, which demonstrates only availability impact from a kernel BUG. In Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 the kernel and kernel-rt packages are affected; the fix is deferred for the affected RHEL 9 streams because the flaw is low severity and requires privileged local access in an uncommon hugetlb plus userfaultfd write-protect configuration to trigger, leaving a residual risk of a local denial of service in such configurations. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6, 7, 8, and 10, and Red Hat In-Vehicle OS are not affected because the vulnerable code is not present.

CVSS score applicability

The CVSS score(s) listed for this vulnerability do not reflect the associated product's status, and are included for informational purposes to better understand the severity of this vulnerability.

Mitigation

Mitigation for this issue is either not available or the currently available options do not meet the Red Hat Product Security criteria comprising ease of use and deployment, applicability to widespread installation base, or stability.

CVSS / CWE

CVSS 3.1 · 4.1
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

CWE-665 · Improper Initialization