Bug 2422797 (CVE-2025-68293)

Summary: CVE-2025-68293 kernel: mm/huge_memory: fix NULL pointer deference when splitting folio
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
Status: NEW --- QA Contact:
Severity: medium Docs Contact:
Priority: medium    
Version: unspecifiedKeywords: Security
Target Milestone: ---   
Target Release: ---   
Hardware: All   
OS: Linux   
Whiteboard:
Fixed In Version: Doc Type: ---
Doc Text:
A null pointer dereference flaw was found in the Linux kernel's transparent huge page (THP) splitting code. For shmem folios in swap cache or truncated folios where the mapping pointer is NULL, accessing mapping->flags causes a kernel crash. This was introduced when adding support for splitting huge pages to lower order pages.
Story Points: ---
Clone Of: Environment:
Last Closed: Type: ---
Regression: --- Mount Type: ---
Documentation: --- CRM:
Verified Versions: Category: ---
oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team: --- Target Upstream Version:
Embargoed:

Description OSIDB Bzimport 2025-12-16 16:02:24 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

mm/huge_memory: fix NULL pointer deference when splitting folio

Commit c010d47f107f ("mm: thp: split huge page to any lower order pages")
introduced an early check on the folio's order via mapping->flags before
proceeding with the split work.

This check introduced a bug: for shmem folios in the swap cache and
truncated folios, the mapping pointer can be NULL.  Accessing
mapping->flags in this state leads directly to a NULL pointer dereference.

This commit fixes the issue by moving the check for mapping != NULL before
any attempt to access mapping->flags.