CVE-2023-52935

mm/khugepaged: fix ->anon_vma race

HIGH
7.8
CVSS Score
Published: March 27, 2025 at 04:37 PM UTC
Updated: August 5, 2026 at 10:24 AM UTC
2 products affected across 2 vendorsLinux KernelDebian Linux

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Severity
HIGH7.8
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.2%
SSVC
No known exploit

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mm/khugepaged: fix ->anon_vma race If an ->anon_vma is attached to the VMA, collapse_and_free_pmd() requires it to be locked. Page table traversal is allowed under any one of the mmap lock, the anon_vma lock (if the VMA is associated with an anon_vma), and the mapping lock (if the VMA is associated with a mapping); and so to be able to remove page tables, we must hold all three of them. retract_page_tables() bails out if an ->anon_vma is attached, but does this check before holding the mmap lock (as the comment above the check explains). If we racily merged an existing ->anon_vma (shared with a child process) from a neighboring VMA, subsequent rmap traversals on pages belonging to the child will be able to see the page tables that we are concurrently removing while assuming that nothing else can access them. Repeat the ->anon_vma check once we hold the mmap lock to ensure that there really is no concurrent page table access. Hitting this bug causes a lockdep warning in collapse_and_free_pmd(), in the line "lockdep_assert_held_write(&vma->anon_vma->root->rwsem)". It can also lead to use-after-free access.

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

4.8 ≤ v < 5.10.2434.8 ≤ v < 5.15.1924.8 ≤ v < 5.4.2994.8 ≤ v < 6.25.11 ≤ v < 5.15.1925.16 ≤ v < 6.1.115.5 ≤ v < 5.10.2436.2 rc16.2 rc26.2 rc36.2 rc46.2 rc56.2 rc6f3f0e1d2150b2b99da2cbdfaad000089efe9bf30
Vendor states this is fixed in 023f47a8250c6bdb4aebe744db4bf7f73414028b (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 352fbf61ce776fef18dca6a68680a6cd943dac95 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in abdf3c33918185c3e8ffeb09ed3e334b3d7df47c (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in acb08187b5a83cdb9ac4112fae9e18cf983b0128 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in cee956ab1efbd858b4ca61c8b474af5aa24b29a6 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 4.8 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 5.10.243 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 5.15.192 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 5.4.299 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.1.11 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.2 (unaffected)

References (6)

Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/023f47a8250c6bdb4aebe744db4bf7f73414028b
Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/352fbf61ce776fef18dca6a68680a6cd943dac95
Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/abdf3c33918185c3e8ffeb09ed3e334b3d7df47c
Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/acb08187b5a83cdb9ac4112fae9e18cf983b0128
Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/cee956ab1efbd858b4ca61c8b474af5aa24b29a6
Mailing ListThird Party Advisory
Source: af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/10/msg00007.html

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCNo known exploitNot automatableTotal impact

SSVC signals action urgency (what to patch first), separate from CVSS which measures severity.

CVSS

7.8HIGHLinux
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusANALYZED
CWE
CWE-416

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