In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
mm: move page table sync declarations to linux/pgtable.h
During our internal testing, we started observing intermittent boot
failures when the machine uses 4-level paging and has a large amount of
persistent memory:
BUG: unable to handle page fault for address: ffffe70000000034
#PF: supervisor write access in kernel mode
#PF: error_code(0x0002) - not-present page
PGD 0 P4D 0
Oops: 0002 [#1] SMP NOPTI
RIP: 0010:__init_single_page+0x9/0x6d
Call Trace:
<TASK>
__init_zone_device_page+0x17/0x5d
memmap_init_zone_device+0x154/0x1bb
pagemap_range+0x2e0/0x40f
memremap_pages+0x10b/0x2f0
devm_memremap_pages+0x1e/0x60
dev_dax_probe+0xce/0x2ec [device_dax]
dax_bus_probe+0x6d/0xc9
[... snip ...]
</TASK>
It turns out that the kernel panics while initializing vmemmap (struct
page array) when the vmemmap region spans two PGD entries, because the new
PGD entry is only installed in init_mm.pgd, but not in the page tables of
other tasks.
And looking at __populate_section_memmap():
if (vmemmap_can_optimize(altmap, pgmap))
// does not sync top level page tables
r = vmemmap_populate_compound_pages(pfn, start, end, nid, pgmap);
else
// sync top level page tables in x86
r = vmemmap_populate(start, end, nid, altmap);
In the normal path, vmemmap_populate() in arch/x86/mm/init_64.c
synchronizes the top level page table (See commit 9b861528a801 ("x86-64,
mem: Update all PGDs for direct mapping and vmemmap mapping changes")) so
that all tasks in the system can see the new vmemmap area.
However, when vmemmap_can_optimize() returns true, the optimized path
skips synchronization of top-level page tables. This is because
vmemmap_populate_compound_pages() is implemented in core MM code, which
does not handle synchronization of the top-level page tables. Instead,
the core MM has historically relied on each architecture to perform this
synchronization manually.
We're not the first party to encounter a crash caused by not-sync'd top
level page tables: earlier this year, Gwan-gyeong Mun attempted to address
the issue [1] [2] after hitting a kernel panic when x86 code accessed the
vmemmap area before the corresponding top-level entries were synced. At
that time, the issue was believed to be triggered only when struct page
was enlarged for debugging purposes, and the patch did not get further
updates.
It turns out that current approach of relying on each arch to handle the
page table sync manually is fragile because 1) it's easy to forget to sync
the top level page table, and 2) it's also easy to overlook that the
kernel should not access the vmemmap and direct mapping areas before the
sync.
# The solution: Make page table sync more code robust and harder to miss
To address this, Dave Hansen suggested [3] [4] introducing
{pgd,p4d}_populate_kernel() for updating kernel portion of the page tables
and allow each architecture to explicitly perform synchronization when
installing top-level entries. With this approach, we no longer need to
worry about missing the sync step, reducing the risk of future
regressions.
The new interface reuses existing ARCH_PAGE_TABLE_SYNC_MASK,
PGTBL_P*D_MODIFIED and arch_sync_kernel_mappings() facility used by
vmalloc and ioremap to synchronize page tables.
pgd_populate_kernel() looks like this:
static inline void pgd_populate_kernel(unsigned long addr, pgd_t *pgd,
p4d_t *p4d)
{
pgd_populate(&init_mm, pgd, p4d);
if (ARCH_PAGE_TABLE_SYNC_MASK & PGTBL_PGD_MODIFIED)
arch_sync_kernel_mappings(addr, addr);
}
It is worth noting that vmalloc() and apply_to_range() carefully
synchronizes page tables by calling p*d_alloc_track() and
arch_sync_kernel_mappings(), and thus they are not affected by
---truncated---
mm: move page table sync declarations to linux/pgtable.h
During our internal testing, we started observing intermittent boot
failures when the machine uses 4-level paging and has a large amount of
persistent memory:
BUG: unable to handle page fault for address: ffffe70000000034
#PF: supervisor write access in kernel mode
#PF: error_code(0x0002) - not-present page
PGD 0 P4D 0
Oops: 0002 [#1] SMP NOPTI
RIP: 0010:__init_single_page+0x9/0x6d
Call Trace:
<TASK>
__init_zone_device_page+0x17/0x5d
memmap_init_zone_device+0x154/0x1bb
pagemap_range+0x2e0/0x40f
memremap_pages+0x10b/0x2f0
devm_memremap_pages+0x1e/0x60
dev_dax_probe+0xce/0x2ec [device_dax]
dax_bus_probe+0x6d/0xc9
[... snip ...]
</TASK>
It turns out that the kernel panics while initializing vmemmap (struct
page array) when the vmemmap region spans two PGD entries, because the new
PGD entry is only installed in init_mm.pgd, but not in the page tables of
other tasks.
And looking at __populate_section_memmap():
if (vmemmap_can_optimize(altmap, pgmap))
// does not sync top level page tables
r = vmemmap_populate_compound_pages(pfn, start, end, nid, pgmap);
else
// sync top level page tables in x86
r = vmemmap_populate(start, end, nid, altmap);
In the normal path, vmemmap_populate() in arch/x86/mm/init_64.c
synchronizes the top level page table (See commit 9b861528a801 ("x86-64,
mem: Update all PGDs for direct mapping and vmemmap mapping changes")) so
that all tasks in the system can see the new vmemmap area.
However, when vmemmap_can_optimize() returns true, the optimized path
skips synchronization of top-level page tables. This is because
vmemmap_populate_compound_pages() is implemented in core MM code, which
does not handle synchronization of the top-level page tables. Instead,
the core MM has historically relied on each architecture to perform this
synchronization manually.
We're not the first party to encounter a crash caused by not-sync'd top
level page tables: earlier this year, Gwan-gyeong Mun attempted to address
the issue [1] [2] after hitting a kernel panic when x86 code accessed the
vmemmap area before the corresponding top-level entries were synced. At
that time, the issue was believed to be triggered only when struct page
was enlarged for debugging purposes, and the patch did not get further
updates.
It turns out that current approach of relying on each arch to handle the
page table sync manually is fragile because 1) it's easy to forget to sync
the top level page table, and 2) it's also easy to overlook that the
kernel should not access the vmemmap and direct mapping areas before the
sync.
# The solution: Make page table sync more code robust and harder to miss
To address this, Dave Hansen suggested [3] [4] introducing
{pgd,p4d}_populate_kernel() for updating kernel portion of the page tables
and allow each architecture to explicitly perform synchronization when
installing top-level entries. With this approach, we no longer need to
worry about missing the sync step, reducing the risk of future
regressions.
The new interface reuses existing ARCH_PAGE_TABLE_SYNC_MASK,
PGTBL_P*D_MODIFIED and arch_sync_kernel_mappings() facility used by
vmalloc and ioremap to synchronize page tables.
pgd_populate_kernel() looks like this:
static inline void pgd_populate_kernel(unsigned long addr, pgd_t *pgd,
p4d_t *p4d)
{
pgd_populate(&init_mm, pgd, p4d);
if (ARCH_PAGE_TABLE_SYNC_MASK & PGTBL_PGD_MODIFIED)
arch_sync_kernel_mappings(addr, addr);
}
It is worth noting that vmalloc() and apply_to_range() carefully
synchronizes page tables by calling p*d_alloc_track() and
arch_sync_kernel_mappings(), and thus they are not affected by
---truncated---
Metrics
Affected Vendors & Products
No data.
No data.
No data.
No data.
Fixes
Solution
No solution given by the vendor.
Workaround
No workaround given by the vendor.
References
History
Fri, 19 Sep 2025 15:30:00 +0000
| Type | Values Removed | Values Added |
|---|---|---|
| Description | In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mm: move page table sync declarations to linux/pgtable.h During our internal testing, we started observing intermittent boot failures when the machine uses 4-level paging and has a large amount of persistent memory: BUG: unable to handle page fault for address: ffffe70000000034 #PF: supervisor write access in kernel mode #PF: error_code(0x0002) - not-present page PGD 0 P4D 0 Oops: 0002 [#1] SMP NOPTI RIP: 0010:__init_single_page+0x9/0x6d Call Trace: <TASK> __init_zone_device_page+0x17/0x5d memmap_init_zone_device+0x154/0x1bb pagemap_range+0x2e0/0x40f memremap_pages+0x10b/0x2f0 devm_memremap_pages+0x1e/0x60 dev_dax_probe+0xce/0x2ec [device_dax] dax_bus_probe+0x6d/0xc9 [... snip ...] </TASK> It turns out that the kernel panics while initializing vmemmap (struct page array) when the vmemmap region spans two PGD entries, because the new PGD entry is only installed in init_mm.pgd, but not in the page tables of other tasks. And looking at __populate_section_memmap(): if (vmemmap_can_optimize(altmap, pgmap)) // does not sync top level page tables r = vmemmap_populate_compound_pages(pfn, start, end, nid, pgmap); else // sync top level page tables in x86 r = vmemmap_populate(start, end, nid, altmap); In the normal path, vmemmap_populate() in arch/x86/mm/init_64.c synchronizes the top level page table (See commit 9b861528a801 ("x86-64, mem: Update all PGDs for direct mapping and vmemmap mapping changes")) so that all tasks in the system can see the new vmemmap area. However, when vmemmap_can_optimize() returns true, the optimized path skips synchronization of top-level page tables. This is because vmemmap_populate_compound_pages() is implemented in core MM code, which does not handle synchronization of the top-level page tables. Instead, the core MM has historically relied on each architecture to perform this synchronization manually. We're not the first party to encounter a crash caused by not-sync'd top level page tables: earlier this year, Gwan-gyeong Mun attempted to address the issue [1] [2] after hitting a kernel panic when x86 code accessed the vmemmap area before the corresponding top-level entries were synced. At that time, the issue was believed to be triggered only when struct page was enlarged for debugging purposes, and the patch did not get further updates. It turns out that current approach of relying on each arch to handle the page table sync manually is fragile because 1) it's easy to forget to sync the top level page table, and 2) it's also easy to overlook that the kernel should not access the vmemmap and direct mapping areas before the sync. # The solution: Make page table sync more code robust and harder to miss To address this, Dave Hansen suggested [3] [4] introducing {pgd,p4d}_populate_kernel() for updating kernel portion of the page tables and allow each architecture to explicitly perform synchronization when installing top-level entries. With this approach, we no longer need to worry about missing the sync step, reducing the risk of future regressions. The new interface reuses existing ARCH_PAGE_TABLE_SYNC_MASK, PGTBL_P*D_MODIFIED and arch_sync_kernel_mappings() facility used by vmalloc and ioremap to synchronize page tables. pgd_populate_kernel() looks like this: static inline void pgd_populate_kernel(unsigned long addr, pgd_t *pgd, p4d_t *p4d) { pgd_populate(&init_mm, pgd, p4d); if (ARCH_PAGE_TABLE_SYNC_MASK & PGTBL_PGD_MODIFIED) arch_sync_kernel_mappings(addr, addr); } It is worth noting that vmalloc() and apply_to_range() carefully synchronizes page tables by calling p*d_alloc_track() and arch_sync_kernel_mappings(), and thus they are not affected by ---truncated--- | |
| Title | mm: move page table sync declarations to linux/pgtable.h | |
| References |
|
|
MITRE
Status: PUBLISHED
Assigner: Linux
Published:
Updated: 2025-09-19T15:26:18.471Z
Reserved: 2025-04-16T07:20:57.141Z
Link: CVE-2025-39844
Vulnrichment
No data.
NVD
Status : Received
Published: 2025-09-19T16:15:43.160
Modified: 2025-09-19T16:15:43.160
Link: CVE-2025-39844
Redhat
No data.
OpenCVE Enrichment
No data.