Linux Kernel up to 6.12.64/6.18.3/6.19-rc3 expand privilege escalation

CVSS Meta Temp Score
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CTI Interest Score
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4.9$0-$5k0.00

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability identified as critical has been detected in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.64/6.18.3/6.19-rc3. Affected by this vulnerability is the function expand. This manipulation causes an unknown weakness. This vulnerability is tracked as CVE-2025-71134. No exploit exists. You should upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.64/6.18.3/6.19-rc3 and classified as critical. The impact remains unknown. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mm/page_alloc: change all pageblocks migrate type on coalescing When a page is freed it coalesces with a buddy into a higher order page while possible. When the buddy page migrate type differs, it is expected to be updated to match the one of the page being freed. However, only the first pageblock of the buddy page is updated, while the rest of the pageblocks are left unchanged. That causes warnings in later expand() and other code paths (like below), since an inconsistency between migration type of the list containing the page and the page-owned pageblocks migration types is introduced. [ 308.986589] ------------[ cut here ]------------ [ 308.987227] page type is 0, passed migratetype is 1 (nr=256) [ 308.987275] WARNING: CPU: 1 PID: 5224 at mm/page_alloc.c:812 expand+0x23c/0x270 [ 308.987293] Modules linked in: algif_hash(E) af_alg(E) nft_fib_inet(E) nft_fib_ipv4(E) nft_fib_ipv6(E) nft_fib(E) nft_reject_inet(E) nf_reject_ipv4(E) nf_reject_ipv6(E) nft_reject(E) nft_ct(E) nft_chain_nat(E) nf_nat(E) nf_conntrack(E) nf_defrag_ipv6(E) nf_defrag_ipv4(E) nf_tables(E) s390_trng(E) vfio_ccw(E) mdev(E) vfio_iommu_type1(E) vfio(E) sch_fq_codel(E) drm(E) i2c_core(E) drm_panel_orientation_quirks(E) loop(E) nfnetlink(E) vsock_loopback(E) vmw_vsock_virtio_transport_common(E) vsock(E) ctcm(E) fsm(E) diag288_wdt(E) watchdog(E) zfcp(E) scsi_transport_fc(E) ghash_s390(E) prng(E) aes_s390(E) des_generic(E) des_s390(E) libdes(E) sha3_512_s390(E) sha3_256_s390(E) sha_common(E) paes_s390(E) crypto_engine(E) pkey_cca(E) pkey_ep11(E) zcrypt(E) rng_core(E) pkey_pckmo(E) pkey(E) autofs4(E) [ 308.987439] Unloaded tainted modules: hmac_s390(E):2 [ 308.987650] CPU: 1 UID: 0 PID: 5224 Comm: mempig_verify Kdump: loaded Tainted: G E 6.18.0-gcc-bpf-debug #431 PREEMPT [ 308.987657] Tainted: [E]=UNSIGNED_MODULE [ 308.987661] Hardware name: IBM 3906 M04 704 (z/VM 7.3.0) [ 308.987666] Krnl PSW : 0404f00180000000 00000349976fa600 (expand+0x240/0x270) [ 308.987676] R:0 T:1 IO:0 EX:0 Key:0 M:1 W:0 P:0 AS:3 CC:3 PM:0 RI:0 EA:3 [ 308.987682] Krnl GPRS: 0000034980000004 0000000000000005 0000000000000030 000003499a0e6d88 [ 308.987688] 0000000000000005 0000034980000005 000002be803ac000 0000023efe6c8300 [ 308.987692] 0000000000000008 0000034998d57290 000002be00000100 0000023e00000008 [ 308.987696] 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 00000349976fa5fc 000002c99b1eb6f0 [ 308.987708] Krnl Code: 00000349976fa5f0: c020008a02f2 larl %r2,000003499883abd4 00000349976fa5f6: c0e5ffe3f4b5 brasl %r14,0000034997378f60 #00000349976fa5fc: af000000 mc 0,0 >00000349976fa600: a7f4ff4c brc 15,00000349976fa498 00000349976fa604: b9040026 lgr %r2,%r6 00000349976fa608: c0300088317f larl %r3,0000034998800906 00000349976fa60e: c0e5fffdb6e1 brasl %r14,00000349976b13d0 00000349976fa614: af000000 mc 0,0 [ 308.987734] Call Trace: [ 308.987738] [<00000349976fa600>] expand+0x240/0x270 [ 308.987744] ([<00000349976fa5fc>] expand+0x23c/0x270) [ 308.987749] [<00000349976ff95e>] rmqueue_bulk+0x71e/0x940 [ 308.987754] [<00000349976ffd7e>] __rmqueue_pcplist+0x1fe/0x2a0 [ 308.987759] [<0000034997700966>] rmqueue.isra.0+0xb46/0xf40 [ 308.987763] [<0000034997703ec8>] get_page_from_freelist+0x198/0x8d0 [ 308.987768] [<0000034997706fa8>] __alloc_frozen_pages_noprof+0x198/0x400 [ 308.987774] [<00000349977536f8>] alloc_pages_mpol+0xb8/0x220 [ 308.987781] [<0000034997753bf6>] folio_alloc_mpol_noprof+0x26/0xc0 [ 308.987786] [<0000034997753e4c>] vma_alloc_folio_noprof+0x6c/0xa0 [ 308.987791] [<0000034997775b22>] vma_alloc_anon_folio_pmd+0x42/0x240 [ 308.987799] [<000003499777bfea>] __do_huge_pmd_anonymous_page+0x3a/0x210 [ 308.987804] [<00000349976cb0 ---truncated---

The advisory is shared at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2025-71134 since 01/13/2026. The exploitation appears to be difficult. Technical details are known, but no exploit is available. The price for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 03/25/2026).

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 301875 (Oracle Linux 10 : Unbreakable Enterprise kernel (ELSA-2026-50144)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 6.12.65, 6.18.4 or 6.19-rc4 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 914769048818021556c940b9163e8056be9507dd/a794d65b132107a085d165caba33aae1101316a5/7838a4eb8a1d23160bd3f588ea7f2b8f7c00c55b 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 (301875) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2026-0119). If you want to get the best quality for vulnerability data then you always have to consider VulDB.

Affected

  • Open Source Linux Kernel

Productinfo

Type

Vendor

Name

Version

License

Website

CPE 2.3info

CPE 2.2info

CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 5.0
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 4.9

VulDB Base Score: 4.6
VulDB Temp Score: 4.4
VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

NVD Base Score: 5.5
NVD Vector: 🔒

CVSSv2info

AVACAuCIA
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💳💳💳💳💳💳
VectorComplexityAuthenticationConfidentialityIntegrityAvailability
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VulDB Base Score: 🔒
VulDB Temp Score: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

Exploitinginfo

Class: Privilege escalation
CWE: Unknown
CAPEC: 🔒
ATT&CK: 🔒

Physical: Partially
Local: Yes
Remote: Partially

Availability: 🔒
Status: Not defined

EPSS Score: 🔒
EPSS Percentile: 🔒

Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔒

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Nessus ID: 301875
Nessus Name: Oracle Linux 10 : Unbreakable Enterprise kernel (ELSA-2026-50144)

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Interest: 🔍
Active Actors: 🔍
Active APT Groups: 🔍

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: Upgrade
Status: 🔍

0-Day Time: 🔒

Upgrade: Kernel 6.12.65/6.18.4/6.19-rc4
Patch: 914769048818021556c940b9163e8056be9507dd/a794d65b132107a085d165caba33aae1101316a5/7838a4eb8a1d23160bd3f588ea7f2b8f7c00c55b

Timelineinfo

01/13/2026 CVE reserved
01/14/2026 +1 days Advisory disclosed
01/14/2026 +0 days VulDB entry created
03/25/2026 +70 days VulDB entry last update

Sourcesinfo

Vendor: kernel.org

Advisory: git.kernel.org
Status: Confirmed

CVE: CVE-2025-71134 (🔒)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2025-71134
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-341077
CERT Bund: WID-SEC-2026-0119 - Linux Kernel: Mehrere Schwachstellen

Entryinfo

Created: 01/14/2026 17:39
Updated: 03/25/2026 19:13
Changes: 01/14/2026 17:39 (57), 01/16/2026 07:08 (7), 03/12/2026 06:33 (2), 03/25/2026 19:13 (12)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

If you want to get the best quality for vulnerability data then you always have to consider VulDB.

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