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x86/mm: Drop unnecessary PMD page copy when freeing

Type: advisorySource: Official CVE List1 source record

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,

Announced Group revision 1
Original source ↗

CVE-2026-98939

Primary source · Revision 1

Imported from structured advisory data. Source references identify upstream records or fields; verify affected versions and your deployed configuration.

Security context

Source reference: cve:CVE-2026-98939

Linux

Source reference: /containers/cna/affected/0/product

Affected versions
Not stated in this record
Fixed versions
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Prerequisites
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Linux

Source reference: /containers/cna/affected/1/product

Affected versions
Not stated in this record
Fixed versions
Not stated in this record
Prerequisites
Not stated in this record

Structured affected-version data

Original package identities and version rules from this source.

[
  {
    "repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
    "vendor": "Linux",
    "product": "Linux",
    "versions": [
      {
        "status": "affected",
        "version": "e21a9ea81426a85fdb0cdcfcc99d5d9c16b402ab",
        "lessThan": "d3c2d2692bdf4af94bb27bc7a3aa0a348a567606",
        "versionType": "git"
      },
      {
        "status": "affected",
        "version": "cc73b2043d106b467accd38e9b1fc09e0607c056",
        "lessThan": "f38c57a28ebbd057471573e39555d5aa11ab03cf",
        "versionType": "git"
      },
      {
        "status": "affected",
        "version": "d5d8b8662e6e5a565b47a0388640e88402f23274",
        "lessThan": "e3ee38c1bc0b11a8d3e63dce7050759b61864286",
        "versionType": "git"
      }
    ],
    "programFiles": [
      "arch/x86/mm/pgtable.c"
    ],
    "defaultStatus": "unaffected"
  },
  {
    "repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
    "vendor": "Linux",
    "product": "Linux",
    "versions": [
      {
        "status": "affected",
        "version": "6.18.53",
        "lessThan": "6.18.56",
        "versionType": "semver"
      },
      {
        "status": "affected",
        "version": "7.2.7",
        "lessThan": "7.2.10",
        "versionType": "semver"
      }
    ],
    "programFiles": [
      "arch/x86/mm/pgtable.c"
    ],
    "defaultStatus": "unaffected"
  }
]
Related CVEs
CVE-2026-98939

Source reference: /cveMetadata/cveId

Publisher severity

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Event
#52797 · Revision 1
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