Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
mm/vma: add give_up_on_oom option on modify/merge, use in uffd release
Currently, if a VMA merge fails due to an OOM condition arising on commit
merge or a failure to duplicate anon_vma's, we report this so the caller
can handle it.
However there are cases where the caller is only ostensibly trying a
merge, and doesn't mind if it fails due to this condition.
Since we do not want to introduce an implicit assumption that we only
actually modify VMAs after OOM conditions might arise, add a 'give up on
oom' option and make an explicit contract that, should this flag be set, we
absolutely will not modify any VMAs should OOM arise and just bail out.
Since it'd be very unusual for a user to try to vma_modify() with this flag
set but be specifying a range within a VMA which ends up being split (which
can fail due to rlimit issues, not only OOM), we add a debug warning for
this condition.
The motivating reason for this is uffd release - syzkaller (and Pedro
Falcato's VERY astute analysis) found a way in which an injected fault on
allocation, triggering an OOM condition on commit merge, would result in
uffd code becoming confused and treating an error value as if it were a VMA
pointer.
To avoid this, we make use of this new VMG flag to ensure that this never
occurs, utilising the fact that, should we be clearing entire VMAs, we do
not wish an OOM event to be reported to us.
Many thanks to Pedro Falcato for his excellent analysis and Jann Horn for
his insightful and intelligent analysis of the situation, both of whom were
instrumental in this fix.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Linux | Linux | 6.12.19 – < 6.12.25, 6.13.7 – < 6.14, 6.14 | 6.12.25 |
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.
Debian
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian 14 | linux | 6.12.25-1 | — |
| Debian 13 | linux | 6.12.25-1 | — |
Ubuntu
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu 25.10 | linux-azure-fde | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 25.04 | linux | 6.14.0-22.22 | USN-7594-1 |
| Ubuntu 25.04 | linux-aws +3 | 6.14.0-1007.7 | USN-7594-3, USN-7594-2, USN-7594-1 |
| Ubuntu 25.04 | linux-gcp | 6.14.0-1008.8 | USN-7594-1 |
| Ubuntu 25.04 | linux-realtime | 6.14.0-1004.4 | USN-7594-1 |
| Ubuntu 24.04 LTS | linux-realtime +1 | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 22.04 LTS | linux-riscv +32 | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 20.04 LTS | linux-gke +28 | No fix yet | — |
Show 2 more (older releases, extended support, other products)Fewer releases
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu 18.04 LTS | linux-gcp +14 | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 16.04 LTS | linux-hwe-edge | No fix yet | — |
Amazon Linux
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon Linux 2023 | bpftool +14 | 6.12.25-32.101.amzn2023 | ALAS2023-2025-995 |
| Amazon Linux 2023 | kernel-livepatch-6.12.25-32.101 | 1.0-0.amzn2023 | ALAS2023-2025-995 |
Oracle Linux
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oracle Linux 9 | kernel-uek +34 | 6.12.0-101.33.4.3.el10uek | ELSA-2025-20530, ELSA-2025-20480 |
Advisories 7
- WID-SEC-2025-0922 Linux Kernel: Mehrere Schwachstellen BSI CERT-Bund (WID) · Nov 12, 2026
- USN-7594-2 linux-azure vulnerabilities Ubuntu Security Notices (USN) · Feb 4, 2026
- USN-7594-1 linux, linux-gcp, linux-raspi, linux-realtime vulnerabilities Ubuntu Security Notices (USN) · Feb 4, 2026
- USN-7594-3 linux-aws, linux-oracle vulnerabilities Ubuntu Security Notices (USN) · Feb 4, 2026
- ALAS2023-2025-995 Important: kernel6.12 security update (Amazon Linux 2023) Amazon Linux Security Center (ALAS) · Aug 26, 2025
- ELSA-2025-20530 Important: Unbreakable Enterprise kernel security update (Oracle Linux 9) Oracle Linux Security Advisories (ELSA) · Aug 18, 2025
- ELSA-2025-20480 Important: Unbreakable Enterprise kernel security update (Oracle Linux 9) Oracle Linux Security Advisories (ELSA) · Jul 17, 2025