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High · 7.8 CVE-2025-38554 EUVD-2025-27899GHSA-wf4q-q8qj-834v

mm: fix a UAF when vma->mm is freed after vma->vm_refcnt got dropped

Published Aug 19, 2025 · Updated Aug 5, 2026 · Assigned by Linux

Vendor: Linux Product: Linux Package: linux-allwinner-5.19 Package: linux-aws-5.0 Package: linux-aws-5.11 Package: linux-aws-5.13 Package: linux-aws-5.19 Package: linux-aws-5.3 Package: linux-aws-5.8 Package: linux-aws-6.2 Package: linux-aws-6.5 Package: linux-azure Package: linux-azure-5.11 Package: linux-azure-5.13 Package: linux-azure-5.19 Package: linux-azure-5.3 Package: linux-azure-5.8 Package: linux-azure-6.11 Package: linux-azure-6.2 Package: linux-azure-6.5 Package: linux-azure-edge Package: linux-azure-fde Package: linux-azure-fde-5.19 Package: linux-azure-fde-6.2 Package: linux-gcp Package: linux-gcp-5.11 Package: linux-gcp-5.13 Package: linux-gcp-5.19 Package: linux-gcp-5.3 Package: linux-gcp-5.8 Package: linux-gcp-6.11 Package: linux-gcp-6.2 Package: linux-gcp-6.5 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-5.19 Package: linux-hwe-5.8 Package: linux-hwe-6.11 Package: linux-hwe-6.2 Package: linux-hwe-6.5 Package: linux-hwe-edge Package: linux-intel Package: linux-intel-5.13 Package: linux-intel-iot-realtime Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-5.19 Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.11 Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.2 Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.5 Package: linux-nvidia-6.2 Package: linux-nvidia-6.5 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-oem-6.8 Package: linux-oracle-5.0 Package: linux-oracle-5.11 Package: linux-oracle-5.13 Package: linux-oracle-5.3 Package: linux-oracle-5.8 Package: linux-oracle-6.5 Package: linux-raspi-realtime Package: linux-raspi2 Package: linux-realtime Package: linux-riscv Package: linux-riscv-5.11 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 Platform: Linux Ecosystem: Ubuntu

Description

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

mm: fix a UAF when vma->mm is freed after vma->vm_refcnt got dropped

By inducing delays in the right places, Jann Horn created a reproducer for
a hard to hit UAF issue that became possible after VMAs were allowed to be
recycled by adding SLAB_TYPESAFE_BY_RCU to their cache.

Race description is borrowed from Jann's discovery report:
lock_vma_under_rcu() looks up a VMA locklessly with mas_walk() under
rcu_read_lock(). At that point, the VMA may be concurrently freed, and it
can be recycled by another process. vma_start_read() then increments the
vma->vm_refcnt (if it is in an acceptable range), and if this succeeds,
vma_start_read() can return a recycled VMA.

In this scenario where the VMA has been recycled, lock_vma_under_rcu()
will then detect the mismatching ->vm_mm pointer and drop the VMA through
vma_end_read(), which calls vma_refcount_put(). vma_refcount_put() drops
the refcount and then calls rcuwait_wake_up() using a copy of vma->vm_mm.
This is wrong: It implicitly assumes that the caller is keeping the VMA's
mm alive, but in this scenario the caller has no relation to the VMA's mm,
so the rcuwait_wake_up() can cause UAF.

The diagram depicting the race:
T1 T2 T3
== == ==
lock_vma_under_rcu
mas_walk
<VMA gets removed from mm>
mmap
<the same VMA is reallocated>
vma_start_read
__refcount_inc_not_zero_limited_acquire
munmap
__vma_enter_locked
refcount_add_not_zero
vma_end_read
vma_refcount_put
__refcount_dec_and_test
rcuwait_wait_event
<finish operation>
rcuwait_wake_up [UAF]

Note that rcuwait_wait_event() in T3 does not block because refcount was
already dropped by T1. At this point T3 can exit and free the mm causing
UAF in T1.

To avoid this we move vma->vm_mm verification into vma_start_read() and
grab vma->vm_mm to stabilize it before vma_refcount_put() operation.

[surenb@google.com: v3]

Affected products

VendorProductAffectedFixed
Linux Linux 6.15 6.15.10

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
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-intel +8 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-riscv +32 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 —
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
SLES for SAP 16.0 kernel-64kb +7 6.12.0-160000.6.1 SUSE-SU-2025:21139-1
SLES for SAP 16.0 kernel-default-base 6.12.0-160000.6.1.160000.2.4 SUSE-SU-2025:21139-1
SLES for SAP 16.0 kernel-livepatch-SLE16_Update_0 5-160000.4.3 SUSE-SU-2026:20149-1
SLES 16.0 kernel-64kb +7 6.12.0-160000.6.1 SUSE-SU-2025:21179-1, SUSE-SU-2025:21139-1
SLES 16.0 kernel-default-base 6.12.0-160000.6.1.160000.2.4 SUSE-SU-2025:21139-1
SLES 16.0 kernel-livepatch-SLE16_Update_0 5-160000.4.3 SUSE-SU-2026:20149-1
SLE Micro 6.2 kernel-default-base 6.12.0-160000.6.1.160000.2.4 SUSE-SU-2025:21074-1
SLE Micro 6.2 kernel-livepatch-SLE16-RT_Update_0 4-160000.3.4 SUSE-SU-2026:20164-1
SLE Micro 6.2 kernel-livepatch-SLE16_Update_0 5-160000.4.3 SUSE-SU-2026:20169-1
SLE Micro 6.2 kernel-rt +5 6.12.0-160000.6.1 SUSE-SU-2026:20560-1, SUSE-SU-2025:21074-1
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
openSUSE Leap 16.0 kernel-default-base 6.12.0-160000.6.1.160000.2.4 openSUSE-SU-2025:20081-1
openSUSE Leap 16.0 kernel-rt +10 6.12.0-160000.6.1 openSUSE-SU-2025:20081-1

Advisories 9

References