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High · 7.8 CVE-2024-26759 EUVD-2024-24021GHSA-p22p-8399-qrmf

mm/swap: fix race when skipping swapcache

Published Apr 3, 2024 · Updated Aug 5, 2026 · Assigned by Linux

Vendor: Linux Product: Linux Package: kernel Package: linux Package: linux Package: linux-allwinner-5.19 Package: linux-aws Package: linux-aws-5.0 Package: linux-aws-5.11 Package: linux-aws-5.13 Package: linux-aws-5.15 Package: linux-aws-5.19 Package: linux-aws-5.3 Package: linux-aws-5.4 Package: linux-aws-5.8 Package: linux-aws-6.2 Package: linux-aws-6.5 Package: linux-aws-fips Package: linux-aws-hwe Package: linux-azure Package: linux-azure-4.15 Package: linux-azure-5.11 Package: linux-azure-5.13 Package: linux-azure-5.15 Package: linux-azure-5.19 Package: linux-azure-5.3 Package: linux-azure-5.4 Package: linux-azure-5.8 Package: linux-azure-6.2 Package: linux-azure-6.5 Package: linux-azure-edge Package: linux-azure-fde Package: linux-azure-fde-5.15 Package: linux-azure-fde-5.19 Package: linux-azure-fde-6.2 Package: linux-azure-fips Package: linux-bluefield Package: linux-fips Package: linux-gcp Package: linux-gcp-4.15 Package: linux-gcp-5.11 Package: linux-gcp-5.13 Package: linux-gcp-5.15 Package: linux-gcp-5.19 Package: linux-gcp-5.3 Package: linux-gcp-5.4 Package: linux-gcp-5.8 Package: linux-gcp-6.2 Package: linux-gcp-6.5 Package: linux-gcp-fips Package: linux-gke Package: linux-gke-4.15 Package: linux-gke-5.15 Package: linux-gke-5.4 Package: linux-gkeop Package: linux-gkeop-5.15 Package: linux-gkeop-5.4 Package: linux-hwe Package: linux-hwe-5.11 Package: linux-hwe-5.13 Package: linux-hwe-5.15 Package: linux-hwe-5.19 Package: linux-hwe-5.4 Package: linux-hwe-5.8 Package: linux-hwe-6.2 Package: linux-hwe-6.5 Package: linux-hwe-edge Package: linux-ibm Package: linux-ibm-5.15 Package: linux-ibm-5.4 Package: linux-intel-5.13 Package: linux-intel-iot-realtime Package: linux-intel-iotg Package: linux-intel-iotg-5.15 Package: linux-iot Package: linux-kvm Package: linux-lowlatency Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-5.15 Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-5.19 Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.2 Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.5 Package: linux-nvidia Package: linux-nvidia-6.2 Package: linux-nvidia-6.5 Package: linux-nvidia-tegra Package: linux-nvidia-tegra-5.15 Package: linux-nvidia-tegra-igx Package: linux-oem Package: linux-oem-5.10 Package: linux-oem-5.13 Package: linux-oem-5.14 Package: linux-oem-5.17 Package: linux-oem-5.6 Package: linux-oem-6.0 Package: linux-oem-6.1 Package: linux-oem-6.5 Package: linux-oracle Package: linux-oracle-5.0 Package: linux-oracle-5.11 Package: linux-oracle-5.13 Package: linux-oracle-5.15 Package: linux-oracle-5.3 Package: linux-oracle-5.4 Package: linux-oracle-5.8 Package: linux-oracle-6.5 Package: linux-raspi Package: linux-raspi-5.4 Package: linux-raspi-realtime Package: linux-raspi2 Package: linux-realtime Package: linux-riscv Package: linux-riscv-5.11 Package: linux-riscv-5.15 Package: linux-riscv-5.19 Package: linux-riscv-5.8 Package: linux-riscv-6.5 Package: linux-starfive-5.19 Package: linux-starfive-6.2 Package: linux-starfive-6.5 Package: linux-vmware Package: linux-xilinx-zynqmp Platform: Linux Ecosystem: Azure Linux Ecosystem: Debian Ecosystem: Ubuntu

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

mm/swap: fix race when skipping swapcache

When skipping swapcache for SWP_SYNCHRONOUS_IO, if two or more threads
swapin the same entry at the same time, they get different pages (A, B).
Before one thread (T0) finishes the swapin and installs page (A) to the
PTE, another thread (T1) could finish swapin of page (B), swap_free the
entry, then swap out the possibly modified page reusing the same entry.
It breaks the pte_same check in (T0) because PTE value is unchanged,
causing ABA problem. Thread (T0) will install a stalled page (A) into the
PTE and cause data corruption.

One possible callstack is like this:

CPU0 CPU1
---- ----
do_swap_page() do_swap_page() with same entry
<direct swapin path> <direct swapin path>
<alloc page A> <alloc page B>
swap_read_folio() <- read to page A swap_read_folio() <- read to page B
<slow on later locks or interrupt> <finished swapin first>
... set_pte_at()
swap_free() <- entry is free
<write to page B, now page A stalled>
<swap out page B to same swap entry>
pte_same() <- Check pass, PTE seems
unchanged, but page A
is stalled!
swap_free() <- page B content lost!
set_pte_at() <- staled page A installed!

And besides, for ZRAM, swap_free() allows the swap device to discard the
entry content, so even if page (B) is not modified, if swap_read_folio()
on CPU0 happens later than swap_free() on CPU1, it may also cause data
loss.

To fix this, reuse swapcache_prepare which will pin the swap entry using
the cache flag, and allow only one thread to swap it in, also prevent any
parallel code from putting the entry in the cache. Release the pin after
PT unlocked.

Racers just loop and wait since it's a rare and very short event. A
schedule_timeout_uninterruptible(1) call is added to avoid repeated page
faults wasting too much CPU, causing livelock or adding too much noise to
perf statistics. A similar livelock issue was described in commit
029c4628b2eb ("mm: swap: get rid of livelock in swapin readahead")

Reproducer:

This race issue can be triggered easily using a well constructed
reproducer and patched brd (with a delay in read path) [1]:

With latest 6.8 mainline, race caused data loss can be observed easily:
$ gcc -g -lpthread test-thread-swap-race.c && ./a.out
Polulating 32MB of memory region...
Keep swapping out...
Starting round 0...
Spawning 65536 workers...
32746 workers spawned, wait for done...
Round 0: Error on 0x5aa00, expected 32746, got 32743, 3 data loss!
Round 0: Error on 0x395200, expected 32746, got 32743, 3 data loss!
Round 0: Error on 0x3fd000, expected 32746, got 32737, 9 data loss!
Round 0 Failed, 15 data loss!

This reproducer spawns multiple threads sharing the same memory region
using a small swap device. Every two threads updates mapped pages one by
one in opposite direction trying to create a race, with one dedicated
thread keep swapping out the data out using madvise.

The reproducer created a reproduce rate of about once every 5 minutes, so
the race should be totally possible in production.

After this patch, I ran the reproducer for over a few hundred rounds and
no data loss observed.

Performance overhead is minimal, microbenchmark swapin 10G from 32G
zram:

Before: 10934698 us
After: 11157121 us
Cached: 13155355 us (Dropping SWP_SYNCHRONOUS_IO flag)

[kasong@tencent.com: v4]

Affected products

VendorProductAffectedFixed
Linux Linux 4.15 6.1.80

Fixed in Linux distributions

Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.

ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Debian 14 linux 6.7.7-1 —
Debian 13 linux 6.7.7-1 —
Debian 12 linux 6.1.82-1 —
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu Nvidia-BlueField 22.04 LTS linux-bluefield No fix yet —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux +49 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-gke +28 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS linux-gcp +14 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 16.04 LTS linux-hwe-edge No fix yet —
Show 12 more (older releases, extended support, other products)
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu Pro Realtime 24.04 LTS linux-raspi-realtime 6.8.0-2002.2 —
Ubuntu Pro Realtime 22.04 LTS linux-realtime +1 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS 20.04 LTS linux-fips +3 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS 18.04 LTS linux-fips +3 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 22.04 LTS linux-fips +3 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 20.04 LTS linux-fips +3 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 18.04 LTS linux-fips +3 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-preview 22.04 LTS linux-fips +3 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS linux +21 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro 18.04 LTS linux +12 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro 16.04 LTS linux-gcp +4 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro 14.04 LTS linux-azure No fix yet —
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
RHEL 9 bpftool 7.4.0-503.11.1.el9_5 RHSA-2024:9315
RHEL 9 rv +67 5.14.0-503.11.1.el9_5 RHSA-2024:9315
RHEL 8 kernel-rt +12 4.18.0-553.8.1.rt7.349.el8_10 RHSA-2024:4352
RHEL 8 perf +26 4.18.0-553.8.1.el8_10 RHSA-2024:4211
Show 1 more (older releases, extended support, other products)
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
RHEL 9.4 EUS bpftool 7.3.0-427.57.1.el9_4 RHSA-2025:2270
RHEL 9.4 EUS rv +64 5.14.0-427.57.1.el9_4 RHSA-2025:2270

AlmaLinux

Errata ↗
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
AlmaLinux 8 kernel-rt +11 4.18.0-553.8.1.rt7.349.el8_10 ALSA-2024:4352
AlmaLinux 8 perf +24 4.18.0-553.8.1.el8_10 ALSA-2024:4211

Rocky Linux

Errata ↗
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Rocky Linux 8 kernel 4.18.0-553.8.1.el8_10 RLSA-2024:4211
Rocky Linux 8 kernel-rt 4.18.0-553.8.1.rt7.349.el8_10 RLSA-2024:4352
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
SLES 15 SP6 kernel-64kb +4 6.4.0-150600.23.25.1 SUSE-SU-2024:3561-1
SLES 15 SP6 kernel-azure +2 6.4.0-150600.8.14.1 SUSE-SU-2024:3551-1
SLES 15 SP6 kernel-coco +3 6.4.0-15061.6.coco15sp6.1 SUSE-SU-2024:3553-1
SLES 15 SP6 kernel-default-base 6.4.0-150600.23.25.1.150600.12.10.2 SUSE-SU-2024:3561-1
SLES 15 SP6 kernel-docs +1 6.4.0-150600.23.25.2 SUSE-SU-2024:3561-1
SLES 15 SP5 kernel-64kb +6 5.14.21-150500.55.83.1 SUSE-SU-2024:3569-1
SLES 15 SP5 kernel-azure +2 5.14.21-150500.33.69.1 SUSE-SU-2024:3587-1
SLES 15 SP5 kernel-default-base 5.14.21-150500.55.83.1.150500.6.37.1 SUSE-SU-2024:3569-1
Show 6 more (older releases, extended support, other products)
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
SLE Micro 6.0 kernel-default-base 6.4.0-17.1.1.51 SUSE-SU-2025:20073-1
SLE Micro 6.0 kernel-livepatch-MICRO-6-0_Update_3 +1 1-1.2 SUSE-SU-2025:20077-1, SUSE-SU-2025:20073-1
SLE Micro 6.0 kernel-rt +1 6.4.0-11.1 SUSE-SU-2025:20077-1
SLE Micro 6.0 kernel-source +2 6.4.0-20.1 SUSE-SU-2025:20073-1
SLE Micro 5.5 kernel-default 5.14.21-150500.55.83.1 SUSE-SU-2024:3569-1
SLE Micro 5.5 kernel-default-base 5.14.21-150500.55.83.1.150500.6.37.1 SUSE-SU-2024:3569-1
SLE Micro 5.5 kernel-rt +1 5.14.21-150500.13.73.1 SUSE-SU-2024:3592-1
SLE Live Patching 15 SP6 kernel-default 6.4.0-150600.23.25.1 SUSE-SU-2024:3561-1
SLE Live Patching 15 SP6 kernel-livepatch-SLE15-SP6-RT_Update_4 1-150600.1.3.1 SUSE-SU-2024:3564-1
SLE Live Patching 15 SP6 kernel-livepatch-SLE15-SP6_Update_5 1-150600.13.3.1 SUSE-SU-2024:3561-1
SLE Live Patching 15 SP5 kernel-default 5.14.21-150500.55.83.1 SUSE-SU-2024:3569-1
SLE Live Patching 15 SP5 kernel-livepatch-SLE15-SP5_Update_20 +1 1-150500.11.3.1 SUSE-SU-2024:3592-1, SUSE-SU-2024:3569-1
SUSE Real Time Module 15 SP6 kernel-rt +3 6.4.0-150600.10.14.1 SUSE-SU-2024:3564-1
SUSE Real Time Module 15 SP5 kernel-rt +3 5.14.21-150500.13.73.1 SUSE-SU-2024:3592-1
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
openSUSE Leap 15.6 dtb-aarch64 +8 6.4.0-150600.23.25.1 SUSE-SU-2024:3561-1
openSUSE Leap 15.6 kernel-azure +2 6.4.0-150600.8.14.1 SUSE-SU-2024:3551-1
openSUSE Leap 15.6 kernel-default-base 6.4.0-150600.23.25.1.150600.12.10.2 SUSE-SU-2024:3561-1
openSUSE Leap 15.6 kernel-docs +1 6.4.0-150600.23.25.2 SUSE-SU-2024:3561-1
openSUSE Leap 15.6 kernel-rt +3 6.4.0-150600.10.14.1 SUSE-SU-2024:3564-1
openSUSE Leap 15.5 kernel-azure +2 5.14.21-150500.33.69.1 SUSE-SU-2024:3587-1
openSUSE Leap 15.5 kernel-rt +3 5.14.21-150500.13.73.1 SUSE-SU-2024:3592-1
Show 1 more (older releases, extended support, other products)
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
openSUSE Leap Micro 5.5 kernel-default 5.14.21-150500.55.83.1 SUSE-SU-2024:3569-1
openSUSE Leap Micro 5.5 kernel-default-base 5.14.21-150500.55.83.1.150500.6.37.1 SUSE-SU-2024:3569-1
openSUSE Leap Micro 5.5 kernel-rt 5.14.21-150500.13.73.1 SUSE-SU-2024:3592-1

Amazon Linux

ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Amazon Linux 2023 kernel-livepatch-6.1.82-99.168 1.0-0.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2024-784
Amazon Linux 2023 perf +14 6.1.82-99.168.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2024-784

Azure Linux

ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Azure Linux 2 (CBL-Mariner) kernel No fix yet —

Oracle Linux

ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Oracle Linux 9 bpftool 7.4.0-503.11.1.el9_5 ELSA-2024-9315
Oracle Linux 9 rv +28 5.14.0-503.11.1.el9_5 ELSA-2024-9315
Oracle Linux 8 perf +19 4.18.0-553.8.1.el8_10 ELSA-2024-4211

Advisories 23

References