Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
mm: Fix a hmm_range_fault() livelock / starvation problem
If hmm_range_fault() fails a folio_trylock() in do_swap_page,
trying to acquire the lock of a device-private folio for migration,
to ram, the function will spin until it succeeds grabbing the lock.
However, if the process holding the lock is depending on a work
item to be completed, which is scheduled on the same CPU as the
spinning hmm_range_fault(), that work item might be starved and
we end up in a livelock / starvation situation which is never
resolved.
This can happen, for example if the process holding the
device-private folio lock is stuck in
migrate_device_unmap()->lru_add_drain_all()
sinc lru_add_drain_all() requires a short work-item
to be run on all online cpus to complete.
A prerequisite for this to happen is:
a) Both zone device and system memory folios are considered in
migrate_device_unmap(), so that there is a reason to call
lru_add_drain_all() for a system memory folio while a
folio lock is held on a zone device folio.
b) The zone device folio has an initial mapcount > 1 which causes
at least one migration PTE entry insertion to be deferred to
try_to_migrate(), which can happen after the call to
lru_add_drain_all().
c) No or voluntary only preemption.
This all seems pretty unlikely to happen, but indeed is hit by
the "xe_exec_system_allocator" igt test.
Resolve this by waiting for the folio to be unlocked if the
folio_trylock() fails in do_swap_page().
Rename migration_entry_wait_on_locked() to
softleaf_entry_wait_unlock() and update its documentation to
indicate the new use-case.
Future code improvements might consider moving
the lru_add_drain_all() call in migrate_device_unmap() to be
called *after* all pages have migration entries inserted.
That would eliminate also b) above.
v2:
- Instead of a cond_resched() in hmm_range_fault(),
eliminate the problem by waiting for the folio to be unlocked
in do_swap_page() (Alistair Popple, Andrew Morton)
v3:
- Add a stub migration_entry_wait_on_locked() for the
!CONFIG_MIGRATION case. (Kernel Test Robot)
v4:
- Rename migrate_entry_wait_on_locked() to
softleaf_entry_wait_on_locked() and update docs (Alistair Popple)
v5:
- Add a WARN_ON_ONCE() for the !CONFIG_MIGRATION
version of softleaf_entry_wait_on_locked().
- Modify wording around function names in the commit message
(Andrew Morton)
(cherry picked from commit a69d1ab971a624c6f112cea61536569d579c3215)
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Linux | Linux | 6.15 | 6.18.19 |
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 | 6.19.10-1 | — |
Ubuntu
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu 25.10 | linux +8 | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 24.04 LTS | linux-riscv +23 | 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 | — |
Show 2 more (older releases, extended support, other products)Fewer releases
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu 16.04 LTS | linux-hwe-edge | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu Pro Realtime 24.04 LTS | linux-realtime-6.14 +1 | No fix yet | — |
Amazon Linux
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon Linux 2023 | kernel-livepatch-6.18.20-20.229 | 1:1.0-0.amzn2023 | ALAS2023-2026-1596 |
| Amazon Linux 2023 | perf6.18 +14 | 1:6.18.20-20.229.amzn2023 | ALAS2023-2026-1596 |
Advisories 2
- WID-SEC-2026-1454 Linux Kernel: Mehrere Schwachstellen BSI CERT-Bund (WID) · Nov 12, 2026
- ALAS2023-2026-1596 Important: kernel6.18 security update (Amazon Linux 2023) Amazon Linux Security Center (ALAS) · Jun 16, 2026