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In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been...

Moderate severity Unreviewed Published Apr 1, 2025 to the GitHub Advisory Database • Updated Apr 10, 2025

Package

No package listedSuggest a package

Affected versions

Unknown

Patched versions

Unknown

Description

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

mm: fix kernel BUG when userfaultfd_move encounters swapcache

userfaultfd_move() checks whether the PTE entry is present or a
swap entry.

  • If the PTE entry is present, move_present_pte() handles folio
    migration by setting:

    src_folio->index = linear_page_index(dst_vma, dst_addr);

  • If the PTE entry is a swap entry, move_swap_pte() simply copies
    the PTE to the new dst_addr.

This approach is incorrect because, even if the PTE is a swap entry,
it can still reference a folio that remains in the swap cache.

This creates a race window between steps 2 and 4.

  1. add_to_swap: The folio is added to the swapcache.
  2. try_to_unmap: PTEs are converted to swap entries.
  3. pageout: The folio is written back.
  4. Swapcache is cleared.
    If userfaultfd_move() occurs in the window between steps 2 and 4,
    after the swap PTE has been moved to the destination, accessing the
    destination triggers do_swap_page(), which may locate the folio in
    the swapcache. However, since the folio's index has not been updated
    to match the destination VMA, do_swap_page() will detect a mismatch.

This can result in two critical issues depending on the system
configuration.

If KSM is disabled, both small and large folios can trigger a BUG
during the add_rmap operation due to:

page_pgoff(folio, page) != linear_page_index(vma, address)

[ 13.336953] page: refcount:6 mapcount:1 mapping:00000000f43db19c index:0xffffaf150 pfn:0x4667c
[ 13.337520] head: order:2 mapcount:1 entire_mapcount:0 nr_pages_mapped:1 pincount:0
[ 13.337716] memcg:ffff00000405f000
[ 13.337849] anon flags: 0x3fffc0000020459(locked|uptodate|dirty|owner_priv_1|head|swapbacked|node=0|zone=0|lastcpupid=0xffff)
[ 13.338630] raw: 03fffc0000020459 ffff80008507b538 ffff80008507b538 ffff000006260361
[ 13.338831] raw: 0000000ffffaf150 0000000000004000 0000000600000000 ffff00000405f000
[ 13.339031] head: 03fffc0000020459 ffff80008507b538 ffff80008507b538 ffff000006260361
[ 13.339204] head: 0000000ffffaf150 0000000000004000 0000000600000000 ffff00000405f000
[ 13.339375] head: 03fffc0000000202 fffffdffc0199f01 ffffffff00000000 0000000000000001
[ 13.339546] head: 0000000000000004 0000000000000000 00000000ffffffff 0000000000000000
[ 13.339736] page dumped because: VM_BUG_ON_PAGE(page_pgoff(folio, page) != linear_page_index(vma, address))
[ 13.340190] ------------[ cut here ]------------
[ 13.340316] kernel BUG at mm/rmap.c:1380!
[ 13.340683] Internal error: Oops - BUG: 00000000f2000800 [#1] PREEMPT SMP
[ 13.340969] Modules linked in:
[ 13.341257] CPU: 1 UID: 0 PID: 107 Comm: a.out Not tainted 6.14.0-rc3-gcf42737e247a-dirty #299
[ 13.341470] Hardware name: linux,dummy-virt (DT)
[ 13.341671] pstate: 60000005 (nZCv daif -PAN -UAO -TCO -DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--)
[ 13.341815] pc : __page_check_anon_rmap+0xa0/0xb0
[ 13.341920] lr : __page_check_anon_rmap+0xa0/0xb0
[ 13.342018] sp : ffff80008752bb20
[ 13.342093] x29: ffff80008752bb20 x28: fffffdffc0199f00 x27: 0000000000000001
[ 13.342404] x26: 0000000000000000 x25: 0000000000000001 x24: 0000000000000001
[ 13.342575] x23: 0000ffffaf0d0000 x22: 0000ffffaf0d0000 x21: fffffdffc0199f00
[ 13.342731] x20: fffffdffc0199f00 x19: ffff000006210700 x18: 00000000ffffffff
[ 13.342881] x17: 6c203d2120296567 x16: 6170202c6f696c6f x15: 662866666f67705f
[ 13.343033] x14: 6567617028454741 x13: 2929737365726464 x12: ffff800083728ab0
[ 13.343183] x11: ffff800082996bf8 x10: 0000000000000fd7 x9 : ffff80008011bc40
[ 13.343351] x8 : 0000000000017fe8 x7 : 00000000fffff000 x6 : ffff8000829eebf8
[ 13.343498] x5 : c0000000fffff000 x4 : 0000000000000000 x3 : 0000000000000000
[ 13.343645] x2 : 0000000000000000 x1 : ffff0000062db980 x0 : 000000000000005f
[ 13.343876] Call trace:
[ 13.344045] __page_check_anon_rmap+0xa0/0xb0 (P)
[ 13.344234] folio_add_anon_rmap_ptes+0x22c/0x320
[ 13.344333] do_swap_page+0x1060/0x1400
[ 13.344417] __handl
---truncated---

References

Published by the National Vulnerability Database Apr 1, 2025
Published to the GitHub Advisory Database Apr 1, 2025
Last updated Apr 10, 2025

Severity

Moderate

CVSS overall score

This score calculates overall vulnerability severity from 0 to 10 and is based on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
/ 10

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector
Local
Attack complexity
High
Privileges required
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector: More severe the more the remote (logically and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerability.
Attack complexity: More severe for the least complex attacks.
Privileges required: More severe if no privileges are required.
User interaction: More severe when no user interaction is required.
Scope: More severe when a scope change occurs, e.g. one vulnerable component impacts resources in components beyond its security scope.
Confidentiality: More severe when loss of data confidentiality is highest, measuring the level of data access available to an unauthorized user.
Integrity: More severe when loss of data integrity is the highest, measuring the consequence of data modification possible by an unauthorized user.
Availability: More severe when the loss of impacted component availability is highest.
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

EPSS score

Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS)

This score estimates the probability of this vulnerability being exploited within the next 30 days. Data provided by FIRST.
(1st percentile)

Weaknesses

Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization ('Race Condition')

The product contains a code sequence that can run concurrently with other code, and the code sequence requires temporary, exclusive access to a shared resource, but a timing window exists in which the shared resource can be modified by another code sequence that is operating concurrently. Learn more on MITRE.

CVE ID

CVE-2025-21984

GHSA ID

GHSA-mw8g-4mvm-gj4f

Source code

No known source code

Dependabot alerts are not supported on this advisory because it does not have a package from a supported ecosystem with an affected and fixed version.

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