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

LoongArch: Fix missing dirty page tracking in {pte,pmd}_wrprotect()

When hardware page table walker (PTW) is enabled on LoongArch, the CPU
may set _PAGE_DIRTY directly in the page table entry during a write TLB
miss, without going through the software TLB store handler. The software
TLB store handler (tlbex.S:254) sets both _PAGE_DIRTY and_PAGE_MODIFIED
together:

ori t0, t0, (_PAGE_VALID | _PAGE_DIRTY | _PAGE_MODIFIED)

Since hardware PTW only sets _PAGE_DIRTY, the software-only bit, i.e.
_PAGE_MODIFIED is left unchanged. This creates a window where a PTE has
_PAGE_DIRTY set (hardware knows the page is dirty) but _PAGE_MODIFIED
clear (software is unaware).

When fork()/clone() triggers copy-on-write, __copy_present_ptes() calls
pte_wrprotect(), which unconditionally clears both the _PAGE_WRITE and
_PAGE_DIRTY bits:

pte_val(pte) &= ~(_PAGE_WRITE | _PAGE_DIRTY);

Since _PAGE_MODIFIED was never set, the dirtiness information is lost
completely. Subsequently, when memory pressure triggers page reclaim,
page_mkclean() / try_to_unmap() sees the page as clean (i.e. pte_dirty()
returns false) and the page may be freed without writeback, causing data
corruption.

Fix this by propagating the _PAGE_DIRTY bit to the _PAGE_MODIFIED bit in
both pte_wrprotect() and pmd_wrprotect() before clearing writeable bits:

if (pte_val(pte) & _PAGE_DIRTY)
pte_val(pte) |= _PAGE_MODIFIED;

The pmd_wrprotect() fix handles the CONFIG_TRANSPARENT_HUGEPAGE case,
where pmd entries need the same treatment.

This ensures the software dirty tracking bit (checked by pte_dirty() and
pmd_dirty(), which read both the _PAGE_DIRTY and _PAGE_MODIFIED bits) is
preserved across fork COW write-protection.

The issue was found by the LTP madvise09 test case, which exercises page
reclaim after "madvise(MADV_FREE), write and fork" operation sequence on
private anonymous mappings.
Published: 2026-08-15
Score: n/a
EPSS: n/a
KEV: No
Impact: n/a
Action: n/a
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History

Sat, 15 Aug 2026 06:00:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: LoongArch: Fix missing dirty page tracking in {pte,pmd}_wrprotect() When hardware page table walker (PTW) is enabled on LoongArch, the CPU may set _PAGE_DIRTY directly in the page table entry during a write TLB miss, without going through the software TLB store handler. The software TLB store handler (tlbex.S:254) sets both _PAGE_DIRTY and_PAGE_MODIFIED together: ori t0, t0, (_PAGE_VALID | _PAGE_DIRTY | _PAGE_MODIFIED) Since hardware PTW only sets _PAGE_DIRTY, the software-only bit, i.e. _PAGE_MODIFIED is left unchanged. This creates a window where a PTE has _PAGE_DIRTY set (hardware knows the page is dirty) but _PAGE_MODIFIED clear (software is unaware). When fork()/clone() triggers copy-on-write, __copy_present_ptes() calls pte_wrprotect(), which unconditionally clears both the _PAGE_WRITE and _PAGE_DIRTY bits: pte_val(pte) &= ~(_PAGE_WRITE | _PAGE_DIRTY); Since _PAGE_MODIFIED was never set, the dirtiness information is lost completely. Subsequently, when memory pressure triggers page reclaim, page_mkclean() / try_to_unmap() sees the page as clean (i.e. pte_dirty() returns false) and the page may be freed without writeback, causing data corruption. Fix this by propagating the _PAGE_DIRTY bit to the _PAGE_MODIFIED bit in both pte_wrprotect() and pmd_wrprotect() before clearing writeable bits: if (pte_val(pte) & _PAGE_DIRTY) pte_val(pte) |= _PAGE_MODIFIED; The pmd_wrprotect() fix handles the CONFIG_TRANSPARENT_HUGEPAGE case, where pmd entries need the same treatment. This ensures the software dirty tracking bit (checked by pte_dirty() and pmd_dirty(), which read both the _PAGE_DIRTY and _PAGE_MODIFIED bits) is preserved across fork COW write-protection. The issue was found by the LTP madvise09 test case, which exercises page reclaim after "madvise(MADV_FREE), write and fork" operation sequence on private anonymous mappings.
Title LoongArch: Fix missing dirty page tracking in {pte,pmd}_wrprotect()
First Time appeared Linux
Linux linux Kernel
CPEs cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
Vendors & Products Linux
Linux linux Kernel
References

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Linux Linux Kernel
cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: Linux

Published:

Updated: 2026-08-15T05:52:02.505Z

Reserved: 2026-08-09T03:40:39.902Z

Link: CVE-2026-72043

cve-icon Vulnrichment

No data.

cve-icon NVD

Status : Received

Published: 2026-08-15T06:21:13.480

Modified: 2026-08-15T06:21:13.480

Link: CVE-2026-72043

cve-icon Redhat

No data.

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

Updated: 2026-08-15T10:45:06Z

Weaknesses

No weakness.