Linux Kernel up to 6.12.8 hugetlb try_get_folio reference count

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability classified as problematic has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.8. The impacted element is the function try_get_folio of the component hugetlb. Performing a manipulation results in reference count. This vulnerability is cataloged as CVE-2024-57883. There is no exploit available. It is recommended to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as problematic has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.8. This affects the function try_get_folio of the component hugetlb. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a reference count vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-911. The product uses a reference count to manage a resource, but it does not update or incorrectly updates the reference count. This is going to have an impact on availability. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mm: hugetlb: independent PMD page table shared count The folio refcount may be increased unexpectly through try_get_folio() by caller such as split_huge_pages. In huge_pmd_unshare(), we use refcount to check whether a pmd page table is shared. The check is incorrect if the refcount is increased by the above caller, and this can cause the page table leaked: BUG: Bad page state in process sh pfn:109324 page: refcount:0 mapcount:0 mapping:0000000000000000 index:0x66 pfn:0x109324 flags: 0x17ffff800000000(node=0|zone=2|lastcpupid=0xfffff) page_type: f2(table) raw: 017ffff800000000 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 raw: 0000000000000066 0000000000000000 00000000f2000000 0000000000000000 page dumped because: nonzero mapcount ... CPU: 31 UID: 0 PID: 7515 Comm: sh Kdump: loaded Tainted: G B 6.13.0-rc2master+ #7 Tainted: [B]=BAD_PAGE Hardware name: QEMU KVM Virtual Machine, BIOS 0.0.0 02/06/2015 Call trace: show_stack+0x20/0x38 (C) dump_stack_lvl+0x80/0xf8 dump_stack+0x18/0x28 bad_page+0x8c/0x130 free_page_is_bad_report+0xa4/0xb0 free_unref_page+0x3cc/0x620 __folio_put+0xf4/0x158 split_huge_pages_all+0x1e0/0x3e8 split_huge_pages_write+0x25c/0x2d8 full_proxy_write+0x64/0xd8 vfs_write+0xcc/0x280 ksys_write+0x70/0x110 __arm64_sys_write+0x24/0x38 invoke_syscall+0x50/0x120 el0_svc_common.constprop.0+0xc8/0xf0 do_el0_svc+0x24/0x38 el0_svc+0x34/0x128 el0t_64_sync_handler+0xc8/0xd0 el0t_64_sync+0x190/0x198 The issue may be triggered by damon, offline_page, page_idle, etc, which will increase the refcount of page table. 1. The page table itself will be discarded after reporting the "nonzero mapcount". 2. The HugeTLB page mapped by the page table miss freeing since we treat the page table as shared and a shared page table will not be unmapped. Fix it by introducing independent PMD page table shared count. As described by comment, pt_index/pt_mm/pt_frag_refcount are used for s390 gmap, x86 pgds and powerpc, pt_share_count is used for x86/arm64/riscv pmds, so we can reuse the field as pt_share_count.

The advisory is shared at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2024-57883 since 01/11/2025. The exploitability is told to be difficult. Technical details are known, but no exploit is available.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 233479 (Ubuntu 24.10 : Linux kernel (Low Latency) vulnerabilities (USN-7380-1)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 6.12.9 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 2e31443a0d18ae43b9d29e02bf0563f07772193d/59d9094df3d79443937add8700b2ef1a866b1081 is able to eliminate this problem. The bugfix is ready for download at git.kernel.org. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at Tenable (233479) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-0105). Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

Affected

• Debian Linux
• Amazon Linux 2
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• Ubuntu Linux
• SUSE Linux
• Oracle Linux
• SUSE openSUSE
• RESF Rocky Linux
• Dell NetWorker
• Dell Avamar
• Open Source Linux Kernel
• Dell PowerProtect Data Domain
• Dell Secure Connect Gateway

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 6.12.0
• 6.12.1
• 6.12.2
• 6.12.3
• 6.12.4
• 6.12.5
• 6.12.6
• 6.12.7
• 6.12.8

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

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CPE 2.2info

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Entryinfo

Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

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