Bug 2517056 (CVE-2026-74482) - CVE-2026-74482 kernel: mm/huge_memory: unlock i_mmap_rwsem before releasing after-split folios
Summary: CVE-2026-74482 kernel: mm/huge_memory: unlock i_mmap_rwsem before releasing a...
Keywords:
Status: NEW
Alias: CVE-2026-74482
Product: Security Response
Classification: Other
Component: vulnerability
Version: unspecified
Hardware: All
OS: Linux
medium
medium
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Product Security DevOps Team
QA Contact:
URL:
Whiteboard:
Depends On:
Blocks:
TreeView+ depends on / blocked
 
Reported: 2026-08-15 12:47 UTC by OSIDB Bzimport
Modified: 2026-08-19 17:11 UTC (History)
2 users (show)

Fixed In Version:
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-08-15 12:47:16 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

mm/huge_memory: unlock i_mmap_rwsem before releasing after-split folios

__folio_split() keeps dereferencing the mapping after the split:
shmem_uncharge(mapping->host) and remap_page() while the folios are still
frozen/locked, and i_mmap_unlock_read(mapping) at the very end, after the
after-split folios have been unlocked and freed.

Nothing holds an inode reference across that.  The split relies on @folio
-- which the beyond-EOF drop loop never removes, as it starts at
folio_next(folio) -- staying locked and in the page cache to hold off
eviction.  But the unlock loop unlocks @folio before i_mmap_unlock_read()
runs.  If the caller's @lock_at is a tail beyond EOF, as memory_failure()
passes when splitting a poisoned tail of a shmem THP that reaches past
i_size during truncation, it too is gone from the page cache; so once
@folio is unlocked no locked, in-cache folio pins the inode, and a
concurrent final iput() can evict and RCU-free it before
i_mmap_unlock_read() touches i_mmap_rwsem:

  BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in __up_read+0x634/0x790
   i_mmap_unlock_read include/linux/fs.h:537 [inline]
   __folio_split+0x732/0x1640 mm/huge_memory.c:4100
   try_to_split_thp_page+0xab/0x390 mm/memory-failure.c:1675
   memory_failure+0x1394/0x26e0 mm/memory-failure.c:2470

  Freed by task 4601:
   shmem_free_in_core_inode+0x54/0xb0 mm/shmem.c:5177
   evict+0x57f/0xac0 fs/inode.c:870

Do every mapping dereference while @folio still pins the inode: drop
i_mmap_rwsem right after remap_page(), before the loop that unlocks and
frees the after-split folios, and clear @mapping so the exit path does not
unlock it again.  shmem_uncharge() and remap_page() already run before
that point, so after this nothing past the unlock loop touches the inode
or the mapping.

This is now a rule the split depends on, alongside keeping @folio frozen
until the page cache is updated: no inode or mapping dereference once the
after-split folios start being unlocked.

Comment 1 Mauro Matteo Cascella 2026-08-19 17:08:23 UTC
Upstream advisory:
https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/2026081537-CVE-2026-74482-571b@gregkh/T


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