Linux Kernel up to 6.12.55/6.17.5 try_to_map_unused_to_zeropage denial of service

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.55/6.17.5. Affected by this issue is the function try_to_map_unused_to_zeropage. Such manipulation leads to denial of service. This vulnerability is referenced as CVE-2025-40230. The attack can only be performed from a local environment. No exploit is available. You should upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.55/6.17.5. Affected by this issue is the function try_to_map_unused_to_zeropage. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a denial of service vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-404. The product does not release or incorrectly releases a resource before it is made available for re-use. Impacted is availability. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mm: prevent poison consumption when splitting THP When performing memory error injection on a THP (Transparent Huge Page) mapped to userspace on an x86 server, the kernel panics with the following trace. The expected behavior is to terminate the affected process instead of panicking the kernel, as the x86 Machine Check code can recover from an in-userspace #MC. mce: [Hardware Error]: CPU 0: Machine Check Exception: f Bank 3: bd80000000070134 mce: [Hardware Error]: RIP 10:<ffffffff8372f8bc> {memchr_inv+0x4c/0xf0} mce: [Hardware Error]: TSC afff7bbff88a ADDR 1d301b000 MISC 80 PPIN 1e741e77539027db mce: [Hardware Error]: PROCESSOR 0:d06d0 TIME 1758093249 SOCKET 0 APIC 0 microcode 80000320 mce: [Hardware Error]: Run the above through 'mcelog --ascii' mce: [Hardware Error]: Machine check: Data load in unrecoverable area of kernel Kernel panic - not syncing: Fatal local machine check The root cause of this panic is that handling a memory failure triggered by an in-userspace #MC necessitates splitting the THP. The splitting process employs a mechanism, implemented in try_to_map_unused_to_zeropage(), which reads the pages in the THP to identify zero-filled pages. However, reading the pages in the THP results in a second in-kernel #MC, occurring before the initial memory_failure() completes, ultimately leading to a kernel panic. See the kernel panic call trace on the two #MCs. First Machine Check occurs // [1] memory_failure() // [2] try_to_split_thp_page() split_huge_page() split_huge_page_to_list_to_order() __folio_split() // [3] remap_page() remove_migration_ptes() remove_migration_pte() try_to_map_unused_to_zeropage() // [4] memchr_inv() // [5] Second Machine Check occurs // [6] Kernel panic [1] Triggered by accessing a hardware-poisoned THP in userspace, which is typically recoverable by terminating the affected process. [2] Call folio_set_has_hwpoisoned() before try_to_split_thp_page(). [3] Pass the RMP_USE_SHARED_ZEROPAGE remap flag to remap_page(). [4] Try to map the unused THP to zeropage. [5] Re-access pages in the hw-poisoned THP in the kernel. [6] Triggered in-kernel, leading to a panic kernel. In Step[2], memory_failure() sets the poisoned flag on the page in the THP by TestSetPageHWPoison() before calling try_to_split_thp_page(). As suggested by David Hildenbrand, fix this panic by not accessing to the poisoned page in the THP during zeropage identification, while continuing to scan unaffected pages in the THP for possible zeropage mapping. This prevents a second in-kernel #MC that would cause kernel panic in Step[4]. Thanks to Andrew Zaborowski for his initial work on fixing this issue.

The advisory is shared for download at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2025-40230 since 04/16/2025. The exploitation is known to be difficult. The attack needs to be approached locally. There are known technical details, but no exploit is available.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 277595 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2025-40230), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 6.12.56 or 6.17.6 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 6fc0a7c99e973a50018c8b4be34914a1b5c7b383/92acf4b04f255d2f0f6770bb0d0a208d8ffb2b77/841a8bfcbad94bb1ba60f59ce34f75259074ae0d 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 (277595) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-2747). VulDB is the best source for vulnerability data and more expert information about this specific topic.

Affected

• Debian Linux
• Google Cloud Platform
• Amazon Linux 2
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• Ubuntu Linux
• SUSE Linux
• Oracle Linux
• SUSE openSUSE
• Open Source Linux Kernel
• RESF Rocky Linux
• Microsoft Azure Linux

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
• 6.12.9
• 6.12.10
• 6.12.11
• 6.12.12
• 6.12.13
• 6.12.14
• 6.12.15
• 6.12.16
• 6.12.17
• 6.12.18
• 6.12.19
• 6.12.20
• 6.12.21
• 6.12.22
• 6.12.23
• 6.12.24
• 6.12.25
• 6.12.26
• 6.12.27
• 6.12.28
• 6.12.29
• 6.12.30
• 6.12.31
• 6.12.32
• 6.12.33
• 6.12.34
• 6.12.35
• 6.12.36
• 6.12.37
• 6.12.38
• 6.12.39
• 6.12.40
• 6.12.41
• 6.12.42
• 6.12.43
• 6.12.44
• 6.12.45
• 6.12.46
• 6.12.47
• 6.12.48
• 6.12.49
• 6.12.50
• 6.12.51
• 6.12.52
• 6.12.53
• 6.12.54
• 6.12.55
• 6.17.0
• 6.17.1
• 6.17.2
• 6.17.3
• 6.17.4
• 6.17.5

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

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Entryinfo

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