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

alpha: fix user-space corruption during memory compaction

Alpha systems can suffer sporadic user-space crashes and heap
corruption when memory compaction is enabled.

Symptoms include SIGSEGV, glibc allocator failures (e.g. "unaligned
tcache chunk"), and compiler internal errors. The failures disappear
when compaction is disabled or when using global TLB invalidation.

The root cause is insufficient TLB shootdown during page migration.
Alpha relies on ASN-based MM context rollover for instruction cache
coherency, but this alone is not sufficient to prevent stale data or
instruction translations from surviving migration.

Fix this by introducing a migration-specific helper that combines:
- MM context invalidation (ASN rollover),
- immediate per-CPU TLB invalidation (TBI),
- synchronous cross-CPU shootdown when required.

The helper is used only by migration/compaction paths to avoid changing
global TLB semantics.

Additionally, update flush_tlb_other(), pte_clear(), to use
READ_ONCE()/WRITE_ONCE() for correct SMP memory ordering.

This fixes observed crashes on both UP and SMP Alpha systems.
Published: 2026-05-06
Score: n/a
EPSS: n/a
KEV: No
Impact: n/a
Action: n/a
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History

Wed, 06 May 2026 12:15:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: alpha: fix user-space corruption during memory compaction Alpha systems can suffer sporadic user-space crashes and heap corruption when memory compaction is enabled. Symptoms include SIGSEGV, glibc allocator failures (e.g. "unaligned tcache chunk"), and compiler internal errors. The failures disappear when compaction is disabled or when using global TLB invalidation. The root cause is insufficient TLB shootdown during page migration. Alpha relies on ASN-based MM context rollover for instruction cache coherency, but this alone is not sufficient to prevent stale data or instruction translations from surviving migration. Fix this by introducing a migration-specific helper that combines: - MM context invalidation (ASN rollover), - immediate per-CPU TLB invalidation (TBI), - synchronous cross-CPU shootdown when required. The helper is used only by migration/compaction paths to avoid changing global TLB semantics. Additionally, update flush_tlb_other(), pte_clear(), to use READ_ONCE()/WRITE_ONCE() for correct SMP memory ordering. This fixes observed crashes on both UP and SMP Alpha systems.
Title alpha: fix user-space corruption during memory compaction
First Time appeared Linux
Linux linux Kernel
CPEs cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
Vendors & Products Linux
Linux linux Kernel
References

Subscriptions

Linux Linux Kernel
cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: Linux

Published:

Updated: 2026-05-06T11:28:46.536Z

Reserved: 2026-05-01T14:12:55.997Z

Link: CVE-2026-43258

cve-icon Vulnrichment

No data.

cve-icon NVD

Status : Awaiting Analysis

Published: 2026-05-06T12:16:46.650

Modified: 2026-05-06T13:07:51.607

Link: CVE-2026-43258

cve-icon Redhat

No data.

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

No data.

Weaknesses

No weakness.