In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
ksm: use range-walk function to jump over holes in scan_get_next_rmap_item
Currently, scan_get_next_rmap_item() walks every page address in a VMA to
locate mergeable pages. This becomes highly inefficient when scanning
large virtual memory areas that contain mostly unmapped regions, causing
ksmd to use large amount of cpu without deduplicating much pages.
This patch replaces the per-address lookup with a range walk using
walk_page_range(). The range walker allows KSM to skip over entire
unmapped holes in a VMA, avoiding unnecessary lookups. This problem was
previously discussed in [1].
Consider the following test program which creates a 32 TiB mapping in the
virtual address space but only populates a single page:
#include <unistd.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <sys/mman.h>
/* 32 TiB */
const size_t size = 32ul * 1024 * 1024 * 1024 * 1024;
int main() {
char *area = mmap(NULL, size, PROT_READ | PROT_WRITE,
MAP_NORESERVE | MAP_PRIVATE | MAP_ANON, -1, 0);
if (area == MAP_FAILED) {
perror("mmap() failed\n");
return -1;
}
/* Populate a single page such that we get an anon_vma. */
*area = 0;
/* Enable KSM. */
madvise(area, size, MADV_MERGEABLE);
pause();
return 0;
}
$ ./ksm-sparse &
$ echo 1 > /sys/kernel/mm/ksm/run
Without this patch ksmd uses 100% of the cpu for a long time (more then 1
hour in my test machine) scanning all the 32 TiB virtual address space
that contain only one mapped page. This makes ksmd essentially deadlocked
not able to deduplicate anything of value. With this patch ksmd walks
only the one mapped page and skips the rest of the 32 TiB virtual address
space, making the scan fast using little cpu.
ksm: use range-walk function to jump over holes in scan_get_next_rmap_item
Currently, scan_get_next_rmap_item() walks every page address in a VMA to
locate mergeable pages. This becomes highly inefficient when scanning
large virtual memory areas that contain mostly unmapped regions, causing
ksmd to use large amount of cpu without deduplicating much pages.
This patch replaces the per-address lookup with a range walk using
walk_page_range(). The range walker allows KSM to skip over entire
unmapped holes in a VMA, avoiding unnecessary lookups. This problem was
previously discussed in [1].
Consider the following test program which creates a 32 TiB mapping in the
virtual address space but only populates a single page:
#include <unistd.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <sys/mman.h>
/* 32 TiB */
const size_t size = 32ul * 1024 * 1024 * 1024 * 1024;
int main() {
char *area = mmap(NULL, size, PROT_READ | PROT_WRITE,
MAP_NORESERVE | MAP_PRIVATE | MAP_ANON, -1, 0);
if (area == MAP_FAILED) {
perror("mmap() failed\n");
return -1;
}
/* Populate a single page such that we get an anon_vma. */
*area = 0;
/* Enable KSM. */
madvise(area, size, MADV_MERGEABLE);
pause();
return 0;
}
$ ./ksm-sparse &
$ echo 1 > /sys/kernel/mm/ksm/run
Without this patch ksmd uses 100% of the cpu for a long time (more then 1
hour in my test machine) scanning all the 32 TiB virtual address space
that contain only one mapped page. This makes ksmd essentially deadlocked
not able to deduplicate anything of value. With this patch ksmd walks
only the one mapped page and skips the rest of the 32 TiB virtual address
space, making the scan fast using little cpu.
Metrics
Affected Vendors & Products
Advisories
No advisories yet.
Fixes
Solution
No solution given by the vendor.
Workaround
No workaround given by the vendor.
References
History
Tue, 16 Dec 2025 14:00:00 +0000
| Type | Values Removed | Values Added |
|---|---|---|
| Description | In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ksm: use range-walk function to jump over holes in scan_get_next_rmap_item Currently, scan_get_next_rmap_item() walks every page address in a VMA to locate mergeable pages. This becomes highly inefficient when scanning large virtual memory areas that contain mostly unmapped regions, causing ksmd to use large amount of cpu without deduplicating much pages. This patch replaces the per-address lookup with a range walk using walk_page_range(). The range walker allows KSM to skip over entire unmapped holes in a VMA, avoiding unnecessary lookups. This problem was previously discussed in [1]. Consider the following test program which creates a 32 TiB mapping in the virtual address space but only populates a single page: #include <unistd.h> #include <stdio.h> #include <sys/mman.h> /* 32 TiB */ const size_t size = 32ul * 1024 * 1024 * 1024 * 1024; int main() { char *area = mmap(NULL, size, PROT_READ | PROT_WRITE, MAP_NORESERVE | MAP_PRIVATE | MAP_ANON, -1, 0); if (area == MAP_FAILED) { perror("mmap() failed\n"); return -1; } /* Populate a single page such that we get an anon_vma. */ *area = 0; /* Enable KSM. */ madvise(area, size, MADV_MERGEABLE); pause(); return 0; } $ ./ksm-sparse & $ echo 1 > /sys/kernel/mm/ksm/run Without this patch ksmd uses 100% of the cpu for a long time (more then 1 hour in my test machine) scanning all the 32 TiB virtual address space that contain only one mapped page. This makes ksmd essentially deadlocked not able to deduplicate anything of value. With this patch ksmd walks only the one mapped page and skips the rest of the 32 TiB virtual address space, making the scan fast using little cpu. | |
| Title | ksm: use range-walk function to jump over holes in scan_get_next_rmap_item | |
| First Time appeared |
Linux
Linux linux Kernel |
|
| CPEs | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | |
| Vendors & Products |
Linux
Linux linux Kernel |
|
| References |
|
Projects
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MITRE
Status: PUBLISHED
Assigner: Linux
Published:
Updated: 2025-12-16T13:48:37.959Z
Reserved: 2025-12-16T13:41:40.256Z
Link: CVE-2025-68211
Vulnrichment
No data.
NVD
Status : Received
Published: 2025-12-16T14:15:54.023
Modified: 2025-12-16T14:15:54.023
Link: CVE-2025-68211
Redhat
No data.
OpenCVE Enrichment
No data.
Weaknesses
No weakness.