CVE-2026-98939 (GCVE-0-2026-98939)
Vulnerability from cvelistv5
Published
2026-10-23 12:12
Modified
2026-10-23 12:12
Severity ?
VLAI Severity ?
EPSS score ?
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
x86/mm: Drop unnecessary PMD page copy when freeing
On a box with a discrete GPU, lockdep reports a possible deadlock as
soon as kswapd shrinks the TTM page pool. The immediate cause is an
x86 commit that added an mmap_read_lock() to kernel page protection
munging code.
The huge vmap code holds the same lock over a GFP_KERNEL allocation,
which is a no-no now that reclaim can take it. That allocation is in a
page table *free* path and ends up being for dubious purposes[1].
Basically, it tries to avoid hardware setting Accessed=1 in page table
entries that are unreachable by the hardware, a non-issue.
Remove the PMD copy. Detach the original PMD page at the PUD, flush
the mid-level caches, and free the PTE tables straight from the
detached PMD page. With no allocation left, the locking issue is gone.
Lockdep splat/analysis:
WARNING: possible circular locking dependency detected
7.3.0-rc3-f6e7b42bf05b+ #183 Tainted: G U
------------------------------------------------------
kswapd0/269 is trying to acquire lock:
((init_mm).mmap_lock){++++}-{4:4}, at: change_page_attr_set_clr+0x29a/0x4a0
but task is already holding lock:
(pool_shrink_rwsem){.+.+}-{4:4}, at: ttm_pool_shrink+0xb2/0x330 [ttm]
Chain exists of:
(init_mm).mmap_lock --> fs_reclaim --> pool_shrink_rwsem
The cycle is built from three edges:
1) pool_shrink_rwsem -> (init_mm).mmap_lock
The TTM shrinker restores the caching attribute of every page it
frees, while holding pool_shrink_rwsem:
ttm_pool_shrink()
-> ttm_pool_dispose_list()
-> ttm_pool_free_page()
-> set_pages_wb()
-> change_page_attr_set_clr() [ init_mm mmap read lock ]
2) fs_reclaim -> pool_shrink_rwsem
The same shrinker, called from reclaim.
3) (init_mm).mmap_lock -> fs_reclaim
ioremap() installing a huge PUD mapping over an existing PMD table:
ioremap_page_range()
-> vmap_range_noflush()
-> vmap_try_huge_pud() [ init_mm mmap read lock ]
-> pud_free_pmd_page()
-> __get_free_page(GFP_KERNEL) [ enters reclaim ]
[ dhansen: Lots of changelog munging/trimming and merged comments from my
version of the fix. ]
References
Impacted products
{
"containers": {
"cna": {
"affected": [
{
"defaultStatus": "unaffected",
"product": "Linux",
"programFiles": [
"arch/x86/mm/pgtable.c"
],
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"vendor": "Linux",
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{
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"vendor": "Linux",
"versions": [
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"status": "affected",
"version": "6.18.53",
"versionType": "semver"
},
{
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"status": "affected",
"version": "7.2.7",
"versionType": "semver"
}
]
}
],
"cpeApplicability": [
{
"nodes": [
{
"cpeMatch": [
{
"criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"versionEndExcluding": "6.18.56",
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"vulnerable": true
},
{
"criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
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"vulnerable": true
}
],
"negate": false,
"operator": "OR"
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"descriptions": [
{
"lang": "en",
"value": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nx86/mm: Drop unnecessary PMD page copy when freeing\n\nOn a box with a discrete GPU, lockdep reports a possible deadlock as\nsoon as kswapd shrinks the TTM page pool. The immediate cause is an\nx86 commit that added an mmap_read_lock() to kernel page protection\nmunging code.\n\nThe huge vmap code holds the same lock over a GFP_KERNEL allocation,\nwhich is a no-no now that reclaim can take it. That allocation is in a\npage table *free* path and ends up being for dubious purposes[1].\nBasically, it tries to avoid hardware setting Accessed=1 in page table\nentries that are unreachable by the hardware, a non-issue.\n\nRemove the PMD copy. Detach the original PMD page at the PUD, flush\nthe mid-level caches, and free the PTE tables straight from the\ndetached PMD page. With no allocation left, the locking issue is gone.\n\nLockdep splat/analysis:\n\n WARNING: possible circular locking dependency detected\n 7.3.0-rc3-f6e7b42bf05b+ #183 Tainted: G U\n ------------------------------------------------------\n kswapd0/269 is trying to acquire lock:\n ((init_mm).mmap_lock){++++}-{4:4}, at: change_page_attr_set_clr+0x29a/0x4a0\n but task is already holding lock:\n (pool_shrink_rwsem){.+.+}-{4:4}, at: ttm_pool_shrink+0xb2/0x330 [ttm]\n Chain exists of:\n (init_mm).mmap_lock --\u003e fs_reclaim --\u003e pool_shrink_rwsem\n\nThe cycle is built from three edges:\n\n 1) pool_shrink_rwsem -\u003e (init_mm).mmap_lock\n\n The TTM shrinker restores the caching attribute of every page it\n frees, while holding pool_shrink_rwsem:\n\n ttm_pool_shrink()\n -\u003e ttm_pool_dispose_list()\n -\u003e ttm_pool_free_page()\n -\u003e set_pages_wb()\n -\u003e change_page_attr_set_clr() [ init_mm mmap read lock ]\n\n 2) fs_reclaim -\u003e pool_shrink_rwsem\n\n The same shrinker, called from reclaim.\n\n 3) (init_mm).mmap_lock -\u003e fs_reclaim\n\n ioremap() installing a huge PUD mapping over an existing PMD table:\n\n ioremap_page_range()\n -\u003e vmap_range_noflush()\n -\u003e vmap_try_huge_pud() [ init_mm mmap read lock ]\n -\u003e pud_free_pmd_page()\n -\u003e __get_free_page(GFP_KERNEL) [ enters reclaim ]\n\n[ dhansen: Lots of changelog munging/trimming and merged comments from my\n\t version of the fix. ]"
}
],
"providerMetadata": {
"dateUpdated": "2026-10-23T12:12:06.180Z",
"orgId": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
"shortName": "Linux"
},
"references": [
{
"url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d3c2d2692bdf4af94bb27bc7a3aa0a348a567606"
},
{
"url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f38c57a28ebbd057471573e39555d5aa11ab03cf"
},
{
"url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e3ee38c1bc0b11a8d3e63dce7050759b61864286"
}
],
"title": "x86/mm: Drop unnecessary PMD page copy when freeing",
"x_generator": {
"engine": "bippy-1.2.0"
}
}
},
"cveMetadata": {
"assignerOrgId": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
"assignerShortName": "Linux",
"cveId": "CVE-2026-98939",
"datePublished": "2026-10-23T12:12:06.180Z",
"dateReserved": "2026-09-25T10:25:14.381Z",
"dateUpdated": "2026-10-23T12:12:06.180Z",
"state": "PUBLISHED"
},
"dataType": "CVE_RECORD",
"dataVersion": "5.2"
}
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Sightings
| Author | Source | Type | Date |
|---|
Nomenclature
- Seen: The vulnerability was mentioned, discussed, or seen somewhere by the user.
- Confirmed: The vulnerability is confirmed from an analyst perspective.
- Published Proof of Concept: A public proof of concept is available for this vulnerability.
- Exploited: This vulnerability was exploited and seen by the user reporting the sighting.
- Patched: This vulnerability was successfully patched by the user reporting the sighting.
- Not exploited: This vulnerability was not exploited or seen by the user reporting the sighting.
- Not confirmed: The user expresses doubt about the veracity of the vulnerability.
- Not patched: This vulnerability was not successfully patched by the user reporting the sighting.
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