In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
KVM: guest_memfd: Remove bindings on memslot deletion when gmem is dying
When unbinding a memslot from a guest_memfd instance, remove the bindings even if the guest_memfd file is dying, i.e. even if its file refcount has gone to zero. If the memslot is freed before the file is fully released, nullifying the memslot side of the binding in kvm_gmem_release() will write to freed memory, as detected by syzbot+KASAN:
================================================================== BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in kvm_gmem_release+0x176/0x440 virt/kvm/guest_memfd.c:353 Write of size 8 at addr ffff88807befa508 by task syz.0.17/6022
CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 6022 Comm: syz.0.17 Not tainted syzkaller #0 PREEMPT(full) Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 10/02/2025 Call Trace: <TASK> dump_stack_lvl+0x189/0x250 lib/dump_stack.c:120 print_address_description mm/kasan/report.c:378 [inline] print_report+0xca/0x240 mm/kasan/report.c:482 kasan_report+0x118/0x150 mm/kasan/report.c:595 kvm_gmem_release+0x176/0x440 virt/kvm/guest_memfd.c:353 __fput+0x44c/0xa70 fs/file_table.c:468 task_work_run+0x1d4/0x260 kernel/task_work.c:227 resume_user_mode_work include/linux/resume_user_mode.h:50 [inline] exit_to_user_mode_loop+0xe9/0x130 kernel/entry/common.c:43 exit_to_user_mode_prepare include/linux/irq-entry-common.h:225 [inline] syscall_exit_to_user_mode_work include/linux/entry-common.h:175 [inline] syscall_exit_to_user_mode include/linux/entry-common.h:210 [inline] do_syscall_64+0x2bd/0xfa0 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:100 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f RIP: 0033:0x7fbeeff8efc9 </TASK>
Allocated by task 6023: kasan_save_stack mm/kasan/common.c:56 [inline] kasan_save_track+0x3e/0x80 mm/kasan/common.c:77 poison_kmalloc_redzone mm/kasan/common.c:397 [inline] __kasan_kmalloc+0x93/0xb0 mm/kasan/common.c:414 kasan_kmalloc include/linux/kasan.h:262 [inline] __kmalloc_cache_noprof+0x3e2/0x700 mm/slub.c:5758 kmalloc_noprof include/linux/slab.h:957 [inline] kzalloc_noprof include/linux/slab.h:1094 [inline] kvm_set_memory_region+0x747/0xb90 virt/kvm/kvm_main.c:2104 kvm_vm_ioctl_set_memory_region+0x6f/0xd0 virt/kvm/kvm_main.c:2154 kvm_vm_ioctl+0x957/0xc60 virt/kvm/kvm_main.c:5201 vfs_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:51 [inline] __do_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:597 [inline] __se_sys_ioctl+0xfc/0x170 fs/ioctl.c:583 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:63 [inline] do_syscall_64+0xfa/0xfa0 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:94 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f
Freed by task 6023: kasan_save_stack mm/kasan/common.c:56 [inline] kasan_save_track+0x3e/0x80 mm/kasan/common.c:77 kasan_save_free_info+0x46/0x50 mm/kasan/generic.c:584 poison_slab_object mm/kasan/common.c:252 [inline] __kasan_slab_free+0x5c/0x80 mm/kasan/common.c:284 kasan_slab_free include/linux/kasan.h:234 [inline] slab_free_hook mm/slub.c:2533 [inline] slab_free mm/slub.c:6622 [inline] kfree+0x19a/0x6d0 mm/slub.c:6829 kvm_set_memory_region+0x9c4/0xb90 virt/kvm/kvm_main.c:2130 kvm_vm_ioctl_set_memory_region+0x6f/0xd0 virt/kvm/kvm_main.c:2154 kvm_vm_ioctl+0x957/0xc60 virt/kvm/kvm_main.c:5201 vfs_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:51 [inline] __do_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:597 [inline] __se_sys_ioctl+0xfc/0x170 fs/ioctl.c:583 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:63 [inline] do_syscall_64+0xfa/0xfa0 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:94 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f
Deliberately don't acquire filemap invalid lock when the file is dying as the lifecycle of f_mapping is outside the purview of KVM. Dereferencing the mapping is *probably* fine, but there's no need to invalidate anything as memslot deletion is responsible for zapping SPTEs, and the only code that can access the dying file is kvm_gmem_release(), whose core code is mutual ---truncated---
CVSS Details
- CVSS 3.1 Base Score: 7.8
- CVSS 3.1 Vector: (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H)
Covered by Rapid7
| Product | Vendor Advisory | Solution File | Added | Published |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Debian | — | Upgrade linux | Jul 23, 2026 | Jul 23, 2026 |
| Ubuntu | — | Upgrade linux-image-gcpUpgrade linux-image-oem-6.17Upgrade linux-image-virtualUpgrade linux-image-oracle-64kUpgrade linux-image-6.17.0-1007-aws-64kUpgrade linux-image-virtual-6.17Upgrade linux-image-realtime-6.17Upgrade linux-image-raspi-6.17Upgrade linux-image-6.17.0-1007-gcpUpgrade linux-image-nvidia-tegra-rt-6.8Upgrade linux-image-6.17.0-1007-awsUpgrade linux-image-6.17.0-1006-realtimeUpgrade linux-image-aws-64kUpgrade linux-image-6.17.0-1008-azureUpgrade linux-image-6.8.0-1035-nvidia-tegraUpgrade linux-image-6.17.0-1007-oracleUpgrade linux-image-oracle-6.17Upgrade linux-image-6.17.0-1008-raspiUpgrade linux-image-6.17.0-14-generic-64kUpgrade linux-image-gcp-6.17Upgrade linux-image-awsUpgrade linux-image-azure-6.17Upgrade linux-image-oracle-64k-6.17Upgrade linux-image-6.17.0-1007-oracle-64kUpgrade linux-image-6.17.0-1011-oemUpgrade linux-image-realtimeUpgrade linux-image-nvidia-tegra-rtUpgrade linux-image-azureUpgrade linux-image-generic-6.17Upgrade linux-image-oracleUpgrade linux-image-nvidia-tegra-6.8Upgrade linux-image-6.17.0-1007-gcp-64kUpgrade linux-image-aws-64k-6.17Upgrade linux-image-generic-64k-6.17Upgrade linux-image-genericUpgrade linux-image-raspiUpgrade linux-image-gcp-64k-6.17Upgrade linux-image-nvidia-tegraUpgrade linux-image-gcp-64kUpgrade linux-image-6.17.0-14-genericUpgrade linux-image-6.8.0-1035-nvidia-tegra-rtUpgrade linux-image-aws-6.17Upgrade linux-image-generic-64k | Feb 13, 2026 | Feb 12, 2026 |
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