mm: resolve faulty mmap_region() error path behaviour
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Local
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- —
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- High · High · High
- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 5 fixed, 2 without a fix
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat.
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mm: resolve faulty mmap_region() error path behaviour The mmap_region() function is somewhat terrifying, with spaghetti-like control flow and numerous means by which issues can arise and incomplete state, memory leaks and other unpleasantness can occur. A large amount of the complexity arises from trying to handle errors late in the process of mapping a VMA, which forms the basis of recently observed issues with resource leaks and observable inconsistent state. Taking advantage of previous patches in this series we move a number of checks earlier in the code, simplifying things by moving the core of the logic into a static internal function __mmap_region(). Doing this allows us to perform a number of checks up front before we do any real work, and allows us to unwind the writable unmap check unconditionally as required and to perform a CONFIG_DEBUG_VM_MAPLE_TREE validation unconditionally also. We move a number of things here: 1. We preallocate memory for the iterator before we call the file-backed memory hook, allowing us to exit early and avoid having to perform complicated and error-prone close/free logic. We carefully free iterator state on both success and error paths. 2. The enclosing mmap_region() function handles the mapping_map_writable() logic early. Previously the logic had the mapping_map_writable() at the point of mapping a newly allocated file-backed VMA, and a matching mapping_unmap_writable() on success and error paths. We now do this unconditionally if this is a file-backed, shared writable mapping. If a driver changes the flags to eliminate VM_MAYWRITE, however doing so does not invalidate the seal check we just performed, and we in any case always decrement the counter in the wrapper. We perform a debug assert to ensure a driver does not attempt to do the opposite. 3. We also move arch_validate_flags() up into the mmap_region() function. This is only relevant on arm64 and sparc64, and the check is only meaningful for SPARC with ADI enabled. We explicitly add a warning for this arch if a driver invalidates this check, though the code ought eventually to be fixed to eliminate the need for this. With all of these measures in place, we no longer need to explicitly close the VMA on error paths, as we place all checks which might fail prior to a call to any driver mmap hook. This eliminates an entire class of errors, makes the code easier to reason about and more robust.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- No
- Technical impact
- Total
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Linux | Linux | 5.10.150 to before 5.10.231; 5.15.75 to before 5.15.174; 5.19.17 to before 5.20; 6.0.3 to before 6.1 | 5.10.231, 5.15.174, 5.20, 6.1 | Patch available | CNA |
| Linux | Linux | 6.1 and later | 5.10.231, 5.15.174, 6.1.119, 6.6.63, 6.12 | Patch available | CNA |
- Linux VendorLinux Affected 5.10.150 to before 5.10.231; 5.15.75 to before 5.15.174; 5.19.17 to before 5.20; 6.0.3 to before 6.1 Fixed in 5.10.231, 5.15.174, 5.20, 6.1 Patch available CNA
- Linux VendorLinux Affected 6.1 and later Fixed in 5.10.231, 5.15.174, 6.1.119, 6.6.63, 6.12 Patch available CNA
CPE configurations NVD · 8
| CPE | Versions | Role | Vendor |
|---|---|---|---|
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | 5.10.150 to before 5.10.231; 5.15.75 to before 5.15.174; 6.0.3 to before 6.1.119; 6.2 to before 6.6.63; 6.7 to before 6.12 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.19.17:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | 5.19.17 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.12:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:* | 6.12 rc1 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.12:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:* | 6.12 rc2 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.12:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:* | 6.12 rc3 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.12:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:* | 6.12 rc4 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.12:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:* | 6.12 rc5 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.12:rc6:*:*:*:*:*:* | 6.12 rc6 | Vulnerable | Linux |
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 5.10.150 to before 5.10.231; 5.15.75 to before 5.15.174; 6.0.3 to before 6.1.119; 6.2 to before 6.6.63; 6.7 to before 6.12 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.19.17:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 5.19.17 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.12:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.12 rc1 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.12:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.12 rc2 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.12:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.12 rc3 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.12:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.12 rc4 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.12:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.12 rc5 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.12:rc6:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.12 rc6 Vulnerable ·Linux
Remediation
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 5.10.231, 5.15.174, 5.20, 6.1
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 5.10.231, 5.15.174, 6.1.119, 6.6.63, 6.12
Red Hat 1 advisory
- RHSA-2025:6966 Released 2025-05-13 · Red Hat rating Moderatekernel security update
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 9) kernel-64k-debug-devel-5.14.0-570.12.1.el9_6, kernel-64k-debug-devel-matched-5.14.0-570.12.1.el9_6, kernel-64k-devel-5.14.0-570.12.1.el9_6 +12
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 9) kernel-5.14.0-570.12.1.el9_6, kernel-64k-5.14.0-570.12.1.el9_6, kernel-64k-core-5.14.0-570.12.1.el9_6 +28
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux CodeReady Linux Builder (v. 9) kernel-tools-libs-devel-5.14.0-570.12.1.el9_6, libperf-5.14.0-570.12.1.el9_6
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux Real Time (v. 9) kernel-rt-5.14.0-570.12.1.el9_6, kernel-rt-64k-5.14.0-570.12.1.el9_6, kernel-rt-64k-core-5.14.0-570.12.1.el9_6 +21
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux Real Time for NFV (v. 9) kernel-rt-5.14.0-570.12.1.el9_6, kernel-rt-core-5.14.0-570.12.1.el9_6, kernel-rt-debug-5.14.0-570.12.1.el9_6 +11
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 9) | Fixed | RHSA-2025:6966 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 9) | Fixed | RHSA-2025:6966 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux CodeReady Linux Builder (v. 9) | Fixed | RHSA-2025:6966 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux Real Time (v. 9) | Fixed | RHSA-2025:6966 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux Real Time for NFV (v. 9) | Fixed | RHSA-2025:6966 |
Not affected: 1 product
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2024-53096
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-pmfq-rg8w-w57m
- 2026-10-29 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
References
Patch 5
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/43323a4e5b3f8ccc08e2f835abfdc7ee9da8f6ed
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/44f48eb9a6051826227bbd375446064fb2a43c6c
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/52c81fd0f5a8bf8032687b94ccf00d13b44cc5c8
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/bdc136e2b05fabcd780fe5f165d154eb779dfcb0
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5de195060b2e251a835f622759550e6202167641
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- TI-2013-05264 The (1) get_user and (2) put_user API functions in the Linux kernel before 3.5.5 on the… KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
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- TI-2013-01864 The perf_swevent_init function in kernel/events/core.c in the Linux kernel before 3.8.9… KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.4
- TI-2021-05514 Heap Out-Of-Bounds Write in Netfilter IP6T_SO_SET_REPLACE KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.3
Sources
- CVE-2024-53096 · CVE Program
- CVE-2024-53096 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-pmfq-rg8w-w57m · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2024-53096 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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