// For flags

CVE-2025-38084

mm/hugetlb: unshare page tables during VMA split, not before

Severity Score

5.5
*CVSS v3

Exploit Likelihood

*EPSS

Affected Versions

*CPE

Public Exploits

0
*Multiple Sources

Exploited in Wild

-
*KEV

Decision

-
*SSVC
Descriptions

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mm/hugetlb: unshare page tables during VMA split, not before Currently, __split_vma() triggers hugetlb page table unsharing through
vm_ops->may_split(). This happens before the VMA lock and rmap locks are
taken - which is too early, it allows racing VMA-locked page faults in our
process and racing rmap walks from other processes to cause page tables to
be shared again before we actually perform the split. Fix it by explicitly calling into the hugetlb unshare logic from
__split_vma() in the same place where THP splitting also happens. At that
point, both the VMA and the rmap(s) are write-locked. An annoying detail is that we can now call into the helper
hugetlb_unshare_pmds() from two different locking contexts: 1. from hugetlb_split(), holding: - mmap lock (exclusively) - VMA lock - file rmap lock (exclusively)
2. hugetlb_unshare_all_pmds(), which I think is designed to be able to call us with only the mmap lock held (in shared mode), but currently only runs while holding mmap lock (exclusively) and VMA lock Backporting note:
This commit fixes a racy protection that was introduced in commit
b30c14cd6102 ("hugetlb: unshare some PMDs when splitting VMAs"); that
commit claimed to fix an issue introduced in 5.13, but it should actually
also go all the way back. [jannh@google.com: v2]

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mm/hugetlb: unshare page tables during VMA split, not before Currently, __split_vma() triggers hugetlb page table unsharing through vm_ops->may_split(). This happens before the VMA lock and rmap locks are taken - which is too early, it allows racing VMA-locked page faults in our process and racing rmap walks from other processes to cause page tables to be shared again before we actually perform the split. Fix it by explicitly calling into the hugetlb unshare logic from __split_vma() in the same place where THP splitting also happens. At that point, both the VMA and the rmap(s) are write-locked. An annoying detail is that we can now call into the helper hugetlb_unshare_pmds() from two different locking contexts: 1. from hugetlb_split(), holding: - mmap lock (exclusively) - VMA lock - file rmap lock (exclusively) 2. hugetlb_unshare_all_pmds(), which I think is designed to be able to call us with only the mmap lock held (in shared mode), but currently only runs while holding mmap lock (exclusively) and VMA lock Backporting note: This commit fixes a racy protection that was introduced in commit b30c14cd6102 ("hugetlb: unshare some PMDs when splitting VMAs"); that commit claimed to fix an issue introduced in 5.13, but it should actually also go all the way back. [jannh@google.com: v2]

*Credits: N/A
CVSS Scores
Attack Vector
Local
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
Low
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High
Attack Vector
Local
Attack Complexity
Low
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
Partial
Availability
Complete
* Common Vulnerability Scoring System
SSVC
  • Decision:-
Exploitation
-
Automatable
-
Tech. Impact
-
* Organization's Worst-case Scenario
Timeline
  • 2025-04-16 CVE Reserved
  • 2025-06-28 CVE Published
  • 2025-06-28 CVE Updated
  • 2025-06-28 EPSS Updated
  • ---------- Exploited in Wild
  • ---------- KEV Due Date
  • ---------- First Exploit
CWE
CAPEC
Affected Vendors, Products, and Versions
Vendor Product Version Other Status
Vendor Product Version Other Status <-- --> Vendor Product Version Other Status
Linux
Search vendor "Linux"
Linux Kernel
Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel"
>= 2.6.20 < 5.10.239
Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel" and version " >= 2.6.20 < 5.10.239"
en
Affected
Linux
Search vendor "Linux"
Linux Kernel
Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel"
>= 2.6.20 < 5.15.186
Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel" and version " >= 2.6.20 < 5.15.186"
en
Affected
Linux
Search vendor "Linux"
Linux Kernel
Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel"
>= 2.6.20 < 6.1.142
Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel" and version " >= 2.6.20 < 6.1.142"
en
Affected
Linux
Search vendor "Linux"
Linux Kernel
Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel"
>= 2.6.20 < 6.6.95
Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel" and version " >= 2.6.20 < 6.6.95"
en
Affected
Linux
Search vendor "Linux"
Linux Kernel
Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel"
>= 2.6.20 < 6.12.35
Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel" and version " >= 2.6.20 < 6.12.35"
en
Affected
Linux
Search vendor "Linux"
Linux Kernel
Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel"
>= 2.6.20 < 6.15.4
Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel" and version " >= 2.6.20 < 6.15.4"
en
Affected
Linux
Search vendor "Linux"
Linux Kernel
Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel"
>= 2.6.20 < 6.16-rc1
Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel" and version " >= 2.6.20 < 6.16-rc1"
en
Affected