Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
mm/hugetlb: fix swap entry corruption when clearing uffd-wp at fork()
copy_hugetlb_page_range() clears the uffd-wp bit of migration and hwpoison
entries with huge_pte_clear_uffd_wp(), which operates on the present-PTE
bit position. Swap entries keep the uffd-wp state elsewhere -- the
migration branch reads and sets it with pte_swp_uffd_wp() and
pte_swp_mkuffd_wp() -- and the present-PTE position falls into the swap
payload. On x86-64 it lands in the inverted swap offset, where a
naturally-aligned hugetlb PFN always has the affected bit set, so the
clear advances the encoded PFN by two pages.
No userfaultfd needs to be involved: the clear is guarded only by the
child VMA not being uffd-wp registered, so a plain fork() with an
in-flight hugetlb migration entry (or a poisoned hugetlb page) corrupts
the entry copied into the child. Instrumenting the clear and forking
after MADV_HWPOISON on a 2MB anon hugetlb page shows:
offset before=120e00
offset after =120e02
The fallout is mostly latent: rmap walks match migration entries by folio
range and remove_migration_pte() rebuilds the PTE from the folio, so a
within-folio PFN skew heals once migration completes. But any path that
re-encodes the corrupted offset -- e.g. hugetlb_change_protection()
rewriting a writable migration entry via
make_readable_migration_entry(swp_offset(entry)) -- propagates it.
Migration entries legitimately carry uffd-wp, so clear it with
pte_swp_clear_uffd_wp(), matching copy_nonpresent_pte() and
move_huge_pte().
A hwpoison entry, on the other hand, never carries the uffd-wp bit: it is
installed fresh by make_hwpoison_entry() (try_to_unmap_one() does not
preserve uffd-wp on the hwpoison path) and hugetlb_change_protection()
leaves hwpoison entries untouched. There was nothing to clear there, only
the corruption, so drop the clear entirely.
mm/hugetlb: fix swap entry corruption when clearing uffd-wp at fork()
copy_hugetlb_page_range() clears the uffd-wp bit of migration and hwpoison
entries with huge_pte_clear_uffd_wp(), which operates on the present-PTE
bit position. Swap entries keep the uffd-wp state elsewhere -- the
migration branch reads and sets it with pte_swp_uffd_wp() and
pte_swp_mkuffd_wp() -- and the present-PTE position falls into the swap
payload. On x86-64 it lands in the inverted swap offset, where a
naturally-aligned hugetlb PFN always has the affected bit set, so the
clear advances the encoded PFN by two pages.
No userfaultfd needs to be involved: the clear is guarded only by the
child VMA not being uffd-wp registered, so a plain fork() with an
in-flight hugetlb migration entry (or a poisoned hugetlb page) corrupts
the entry copied into the child. Instrumenting the clear and forking
after MADV_HWPOISON on a 2MB anon hugetlb page shows:
offset before=120e00
offset after =120e02
The fallout is mostly latent: rmap walks match migration entries by folio
range and remove_migration_pte() rebuilds the PTE from the folio, so a
within-folio PFN skew heals once migration completes. But any path that
re-encodes the corrupted offset -- e.g. hugetlb_change_protection()
rewriting a writable migration entry via
make_readable_migration_entry(swp_offset(entry)) -- propagates it.
Migration entries legitimately carry uffd-wp, so clear it with
pte_swp_clear_uffd_wp(), matching copy_nonpresent_pte() and
move_huge_pte().
A hwpoison entry, on the other hand, never carries the uffd-wp bit: it is
installed fresh by make_hwpoison_entry() (try_to_unmap_one() does not
preserve uffd-wp on the hwpoison path) and hugetlb_change_protection()
leaves hwpoison entries untouched. There was nothing to clear there, only
the corruption, so drop the clear entirely.
Published:
2026-09-04
Score:
n/a
EPSS:
n/a
KEV:
No
Impact:
n/a
Action:
n/a
Analysis
No analysis available yet.
Default status is the baseline for the product, each version can override it (e.g. patched versions marked unaffected).
| Vendor | Product | Default status | Versions | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Linux | Linux | unaffected |
|
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| Linux | Linux | affected |
|
No data.
No data.
No data available yet.
Remediation
No remediation available yet.
Tracking
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Advisories
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References
History
Fri, 04 Sep 2026 17:30:00 +0000
| Type | Values Removed | Values Added |
|---|---|---|
| Description | In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mm/hugetlb: fix swap entry corruption when clearing uffd-wp at fork() copy_hugetlb_page_range() clears the uffd-wp bit of migration and hwpoison entries with huge_pte_clear_uffd_wp(), which operates on the present-PTE bit position. Swap entries keep the uffd-wp state elsewhere -- the migration branch reads and sets it with pte_swp_uffd_wp() and pte_swp_mkuffd_wp() -- and the present-PTE position falls into the swap payload. On x86-64 it lands in the inverted swap offset, where a naturally-aligned hugetlb PFN always has the affected bit set, so the clear advances the encoded PFN by two pages. No userfaultfd needs to be involved: the clear is guarded only by the child VMA not being uffd-wp registered, so a plain fork() with an in-flight hugetlb migration entry (or a poisoned hugetlb page) corrupts the entry copied into the child. Instrumenting the clear and forking after MADV_HWPOISON on a 2MB anon hugetlb page shows: offset before=120e00 offset after =120e02 The fallout is mostly latent: rmap walks match migration entries by folio range and remove_migration_pte() rebuilds the PTE from the folio, so a within-folio PFN skew heals once migration completes. But any path that re-encodes the corrupted offset -- e.g. hugetlb_change_protection() rewriting a writable migration entry via make_readable_migration_entry(swp_offset(entry)) -- propagates it. Migration entries legitimately carry uffd-wp, so clear it with pte_swp_clear_uffd_wp(), matching copy_nonpresent_pte() and move_huge_pte(). A hwpoison entry, on the other hand, never carries the uffd-wp bit: it is installed fresh by make_hwpoison_entry() (try_to_unmap_one() does not preserve uffd-wp on the hwpoison path) and hugetlb_change_protection() leaves hwpoison entries untouched. There was nothing to clear there, only the corruption, so drop the clear entirely. | |
| Title | mm/hugetlb: fix swap entry corruption when clearing uffd-wp at fork() | |
| First Time appeared |
Linux
Linux linux Kernel |
|
| CPEs | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | |
| Vendors & Products |
Linux
Linux linux Kernel |
|
| References |
|
|
MITRE
Status: PUBLISHED
Assigner: Linux
Published:
Updated: 2026-09-04T17:11:09.199Z
Reserved: 2026-08-26T14:34:25.800Z
Link: CVE-2026-80893
Vulnrichment
No data.
NVD
Status : Received
Published: 2026-09-04T18:17:57.467
Modified: 2026-09-04T18:17:57.467
Link: CVE-2026-80893
Redhat
No data.
OpenCVE Enrichment
No data.
Weaknesses
No weakness.