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🛡️ CVE-2024-50066 — kernel

🟠 CVSS 7.8 — High ✅ No Known Exploit NVD
7.8
CVSS Score
0 Low4 Medium7 High9 Critical10

Description

mm/mremap: fix move_normal_pmd/retract_page_tables race

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

mm/mremap: fix move_normal_pmd/retract_page_tables race

In mremap(), move_page_tables() looks at the type of the PMD entry and the

specified address range to figure out by which method the next chunk of

page table entries should be moved.

At that point, the mmap_lock is held in write mode, but no rmap locks are

held yet. For PMD entries that point to page tables and are fully covered

by the source address range, move_pgt_entry(NORMAL_PMD, ...) is called,

which first takes rmap locks, then does move_normal_pmd().

move_normal_pmd() takes the necessary page table locks at source and

destination, then moves an entire page table from the source to the

destination.

The problem is: The rmap locks, which protect against concurrent page

table removal by retract_page_tables() in the THP code, are only taken

after the PMD entry has been read and it has been decided how to move it.

So we can race as follows (with two processes that have mappings of the

same tmpfs file that is stored on a tmpfs mount with huge=advise); note

that process A accesses page tables through the MM while process B does it

through the file rmap:

process A process B

========= =========

mremap

mremap_to

move_vma

move_page_tables

get_old_pmd

alloc_new_pmd

* PREEMPT *

madvise(MADV_COLLAPSE)

do_madvise

madvise_walk_vmas

madvise_vma_behavior

madvise_collapse

hpage_collapse_scan_file

collapse_file

retract_page_tables

i_mmap_lock_read(mapping)

pmdp_collapse_flush

i_mmap_unlock_read(mapping)

move_pgt_entry(NORMAL_PMD, ...)

take_rmap_locks

move_normal_pmd

drop_rmap_locks

When this happens, move_normal_pmd() can end up creating bogus PMD entries

in the line pmd_populate(mm, new_pmd, pmd_pgtable(pmd)). The effect

depends on arch-specific and machine-specific details; on x86, you can end

up with physical page 0 mapped as a page table, which is likely

exploitable for user->kernel privilege escalation.

Fix the race by letting process B recheck that the PMD still points to a

page table after the rmap locks have been taken. Otherwise, we bail and

let the caller fall back to the PTE-level copying path, which will then

bail immediately at the pmd_none() check.

Bug reachability: Reaching this bug requires that you can create

shmem/file THP mappings - anonymous THP uses different code that doesn't

zap stuff under rmap locks. File THP is gated on an experimental config

flag (CONFIG_READ_ONLY_THP_FOR_FS), so on normal distro kernels you need

shmem THP to hit this bug. As far as I know, getting shmem THP normally

requires that you can mount your own tmpfs with the right mount flags,

which would require creating your own user+mount namespace; though I don't

know if some distros maybe enable shmem THP by default or something like

that.

Bug impact: This issue can likely be used for user->kernel privilege

escalation when it is reachable.

How this vulnerability can be exploited

This issue can be reached with local access to the system, attack complexity is low, an attacker needs low-level privileges on the target. No user interaction is required. The scope is unchanged, so the impact stays within the vulnerable component. Rated impact: confidentiality high, integrity high, availability high.

CVSS metrics in full

The score comes from this vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

  • Attack vector: Local — a local account, shell or session on the host is needed.
  • Attack complexity: Low — the attack works reliably, with no preparation.
  • Privileges required: Low — an ordinary user account is enough.
  • User interaction: None — nobody has to be tricked into anything.
  • Scope: Unchanged — the damage stays inside the vulnerable component.
  • Confidentiality impact: High — total loss, or loss the attacker controls.
  • Integrity impact: High — total loss, or loss the attacker controls.
  • Availability impact: High — total loss, or loss the attacker controls.

Affected software

CVE-2024-50066 is recorded against 2 packages.

  • kernel (from 6.7.0 up to 6.11.5)
  • linux-kernel

Timeline and source

Published on 23 October 2024 and last revised on 12 August 2026. No public exploit is currently recorded for this entry. A vendor advisory or fix has been published. Record sourced from NVD.

References

git.kernel.org (Web)
git.kernel.org (Web)
git.kernel.org (Web)
project-zero.issues.chromium.org (Web)
www.vicarius.io (Web)
www.vicarius.io (Web)
github.com (Advisory)
nvd.nist.gov (Advisory)
git.kernel.org (Package)

Other advisories for this package

kernel has other advisories on record. If you are patching this one, these are worth checking on the same host:

CVE-2024-50066 on other distributions

Each distribution ships its own build and its own fixed version. Pick the one you run:

Details

Severity High
CVSS Score 7.8
CVSS Vector CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CWE N/A
Public Exploit ✅ No
Source NVD
Published 2024-10-23
Updated 2026-08-20
Modified 2026-08-12

Affected Packages

Software From version Fixed in
kernel 6.7.0 6.11.5
linux-kernel — —

Similar Threats

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