Bug 2486983 (CVE-2026-46318)

Summary: CVE-2026-46318 kernel: Revert "mm/hugetlbfs: update hugetlbfs to use mmap_prepare"
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security <prodsec-ir-bot>
Status: NEW --- QA Contact:
Severity: low Docs Contact:
Priority: low    
Version: unspecifiedCC: rhel-process-autobot, watson-tool-maintainers
Target Milestone: ---Keywords: Security
Target Release: ---   
Hardware: All   
OS: Linux   
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Doc Text:
A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's hugetlbfs component. An issue in the `mmap_prepare` stage incorrectly handled memory allocation, which could lead to a lock leak if an allocation failed. This resource leak could potentially be exploited by a local attacker to cause a Denial of Service (DoS) by exhausting system resources.
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oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-06-09 13:01:32 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

Revert "mm/hugetlbfs: update hugetlbfs to use mmap_prepare"

This reverts commit ea52cb24cd3f ("mm/hugetlbfs: update hugetlbfs to use
mmap_prepare") with conflict resolution to account for changes in commit
ea52cb24cd3f ("mm/hugetlbfs: update hugetlbfs to use mmap_prepare").

The patch incorrectly handled hugetlb VMA lock allocation at the
mmap_prepare stage, where a failed allocation occurring after mmap_prepare
is called might result in the lock leaking.

There is no risk of a merge causing a similar issues, as
VMA_DONTEXPAND_BIT is set for hugetlb mappings.

As a first step in addressing this issue, simply revert the change so we
can rework how we do this having corrected the underlying issues.

We maintain the VMA flags changes as best we can, accounting for the fact
that we were working with a VMA descriptor previously and propagating
like-for-like changes for this.

Note that we invoke vma_set_flags() and do not call vma_start_write() as
vm_flags_set() does.  This is OK as it's being done in an .mmap hook where
the VMA is not yet linked into the tree so nobody else can be accessing
it.