KernelScan.io

HIGH

mm VMA mremap UAF

CVE-2026-23077

CVSS 7.8 / 10.0 NVD

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

KernelScan AI7.8HIGH

01

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mm/vma: fix anon_vma UAF on mremap() faulted, unfaulted merge Patch series "mm/vma: fix anon_vma UAF on mremap() faulted, unfaulted merge", v2. Commit 879bca0a2c4f ("mm/vma: fix incorrectly disallowed anonymous VMA merges") introduced the ability to merge previously unavailable VMA merge scenarios. However, it is handling merges incorrectly when it comes to mremap() of a faulted VMA adjacent to an unfaulted VMA. The issues arise in three cases: 1. Previous VMA unfaulted: copied -----| v |-----------|.............| | unfaulted |(faulted VMA)| |-----------|.............| prev 2. Next VMA unfaulted: copied -----| v |.............|-----------| |(faulted VMA)| unfaulted | |.............|-----------| next 3. Both adjacent VMAs unfaulted: copied -----| v |-----------|.............|-----------| | unfaulted |(faulted VMA)| unfaulted | |-----------|.............|-----------| prev next This series fixes each of these cases, and introduces self tests to assert that the issues are corrected. I also test a further case which was already handled, to assert that my changes continues to correctly handle it: 4. prev unfaulted, next faulted: copied -----| v |-----------|.............|-----------| | unfaulted |(faulted VMA)| faulted | |-----------|.............|-----------| prev next This bug was discovered via a syzbot report, linked to in the first patch in the series, I confirmed that this series fixes the bug. I also discovered that we are failing to check that the faulted VMA was not forked when merging a copied VMA in cases 1-3 above, an issue this series also addresses. I also added self tests to assert that this is resolved (and confirmed that the tests failed prior to this). I also cleaned up vma_expand() as part of this work, renamed vma_had_uncowed_parents() to vma_is_fork_child() as the previous name was unduly confusing, and simplified the comments around this function. This patch (of 4): Commit 879bca0a2c4f ("mm/vma: fix incorrectly disallowed anonymous VMA merges") introduced the ability to merge previously unavailable VMA merge scenarios. The key piece of logic introduced was the ability to merge a faulted VMA immediately next to an unfaulted VMA, which relies upon dup_anon_vma() to correctly handle anon_vma state. In the case of the merge of an existing VMA (that is changing properties of a VMA and then merging if those properties are shared by adjacent VMAs), dup_anon_vma() is invoked correctly. However in the case of the merge of a new VMA, a corner case peculiar to mremap() was missed. The issue is that vma_expand() only performs dup_anon_vma() if the target (the VMA that will ultimately become the merged VMA): is not the next VMA, i.e. the one that appears after the range in which the new VMA is to be established. A key insight here is that in all other cases other than mremap(), a new VMA merge either expands an existing VMA, meaning that the target VMA will be that VMA, or would have anon_vma be NULL. Specifically: * __mmap_region() - no anon_vma in place, initial mapping. * do_brk_flags() - expanding an existing VMA. * vma_merge_extend() - expanding an existing VMA. * relocate_vma_down() - no anon_vma in place, initial mapping. In addition, we are in the unique situation of needing to duplicate anon_vma state from a VMA that is neither the previous or next VMA being merged with. dup_anon_vma() deals exclusively with the target=unfaulted, src=faulted case. This leaves four possibilities, in each case where the copied VMA is faulted: 1. Previous VMA unfaulted: copied -----| ---truncated---

02

Engine v0.2.0

Risk summary

A local attacker could trigger a use-after-free condition in the kernel's memory management subsystem by carefully crafting mremap() calls that cause VMA merges between faulted and unfaulted memory regions. This could lead to kernel memory corruption, privilege escalation, or system crashes. The vulnerability affects systems where processes can perform memory remapping operations.

Affectedmm/vma

Vulnerability analysis

Root Cause: The vulnerability occurs in the VMA (Virtual Memory Area) merging logic during mremap() operations. When merging a faulted VMA (one that has been written to and has anon_vma structures) with an adjacent unfaulted VMA, the code fails to properly duplicate anon_vma state in certain configurations. This happens because vma_expand() only calls dup_anon_vma() when the target VMA is not the next VMA, missing cases where mremap() creates a new VMA that needs anon_vma state propagated from the copied-from VMA.

Attack Surface: This is a local vulnerability requiring the ability to call mremap() with MREMAP_DONTUNMAP flag to trigger the specific VMA merge scenarios. The bug occurs during memory management operations and could be triggered by any process with sufficient memory allocation capabilities.

Fix Mechanism: The fix introduces vma_merge_copied_range() function and adds a copied_from field to track the source VMA during mremap operations. The vma_expand() function is updated to unconditionally call dup_anon_vma() when copying from a VMA, ensuring anon_vma state is properly propagated in all merge scenarios. This prevents unlink_anon_vmas() from being called on freed anon_vma structures.

03

BranchFixed inPatch commit
6.186.18.8a4d9dbfc1bab
mainline6.1961f67c230a5e