CVE-2022-49760: mm/hugetlb: fix PTE marker handling in hugetlb_change_protection()
Noroxi assessment
Priority: Monitor (action score 22/100)
- The sources we track (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei, GitHub) show no public exploit code or exploitation in the wild.
- Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 0.17% (FIRST EPSS).
- Someone with local access to the system can trigger it. A low-privileged account is enough. No user action is required. No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
- Fixed version: Linux Linux 0e678153f5be7e6c8d28835f5a678618da4b7a9c, 6062c992e912df1eedad52cf64efb3d48e8d35c5.
- Severity is disputed: the assigning authority (CNA) scores it 7.8, NVD 5.5.
Low priority for now. Upgrade to Linux Linux 0e678153f5be7e6c8d28835f5a678618da4b7a9c, 6062c992e912df1eedad52cf64efb3d48e8d35c5 or later.
Generated automatically from the record's data: CVSS (NVD and CNA), CISA KEV and SSVC, FIRST EPSS, exploit sources, fixed versions. How we calculate it
Primary sources: NVD · CVE.org · FIRST EPSS
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mm/hugetlb: fix PTE marker handling in hugetlb_change_protection() Patch series "mm/hugetlb: uffd-wp fixes for hugetlb_change_protection()". Playing with virtio-mem and background snapshots (using uffd-wp) on hugetlb in QEMU, I managed to trigger a VM_BUG_ON(). Looking into the details, hugetlb_change_protection() seems to not handle uffd-wp correctly in all cases. Patch #1 fixes my test case. I don't have reproducers for patch #2, as it requires running into migration entries. I did not yet check in detail yet if !hugetlb code requires similar care. This patch (of 2): There are two problematic cases when stumbling over a PTE marker in hugetlb_change_protection(): (1) We protect an uffd-wp PTE marker a second time using uffd-wp: we will end up in the "!huge_pte_none(pte)" case and mess up the PTE marker. (2) We unprotect a uffd-wp PTE marker: we will similarly end up in the "!huge_pte_none(pte)" case even though we cleared the PTE, because the "pte" variable is stale. We'll mess up the PTE marker. For example, if we later stumble over such a "wrongly modified" PTE marker, we'll treat it like a present PTE that maps some garbage page. This can, for example, be triggered by mapping a memfd backed by huge pages, registering uffd-wp, uffd-wp'ing an unmapped page and (a) uffd-wp'ing it a second time; or (b) uffd-unprotecting it; or (c) unregistering uffd-wp. Then, ff we trigger fallocate(FALLOC_FL_PUNCH_HOLE) on that file range, we will run into a VM_BUG_ON: [ 195.039560] page:00000000ba1f2987 refcount:1 mapcount:0 mapping:0000000000000000 index:0x0 pfn:0x0 [ 195.039565] flags: 0x7ffffc0001000(reserved|node=0|zone=0|lastcpupid=0x1fffff) [ 195.039568] raw: 0007ffffc0001000 ffffe742c0000008 ffffe742c0000008 0000000000000000 [ 195.039569] raw: 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 00000001ffffffff 0000000000000000 [ 195.039569] page dumped because: VM_BUG_ON_PAGE(compound && !PageHead(page)) [ 195.039573] ------------[ cut here ]------------ [ 195.039574] kernel BUG at mm/rmap.c:1346! [ 195.039579] invalid opcode: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP NOPTI [ 195.039581] CPU: 7 PID: 4777 Comm: qemu-system-x86 Not tainted 6.0.12-200.fc36.x86_64 #1 [ 195.039583] Hardware name: LENOVO 20WNS1F81N/20WNS1F81N, BIOS N35ET50W (1.50 ) 09/15/2022 [ 195.039584] RIP: 0010:page_remove_rmap+0x45b/0x550 [ 195.039588] Code: [...] [ 195.039589] RSP: 0018:ffffbc03c3633ba8 EFLAGS: 00010292 [ 195.039591] RAX: 0000000000000040 RBX: ffffe742c0000000 RCX: 0000000000000000 [ 195.039592] RDX: 0000000000000002 RSI: ffffffff8e7aac1a RDI: 00000000ffffffff [ 195.039592] RBP: 0000000000000001 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: ffffbc03c3633a08 [ 195.039593] R10: 0000000000000003 R11: ffffffff8f146328 R12: ffff9b04c42754b0 [ 195.039594] R13: ffffffff8fcc6328 R14: ffffbc03c3633c80 R15: ffff9b0484ab9100 [ 195.039595] FS: 00007fc7aaf68640(0000) GS:ffff9b0bbf7c0000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 [ 195.039596] CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 [ 195.039597] CR2: 000055d402c49110 CR3: 0000000159392003 CR4: 0000000000772ee0 [ 195.039598] PKRU: 55555554 [ 195.039599] Call Trace: [ 195.039600] <TASK> [ 195.039602] __unmap_hugepage_range+0x33b/0x7d0 [ 195.039605] unmap_hugepage_range+0x55/0x70 [ 195.039608] hugetlb_vmdelete_list+0x77/0xa0 [ 195.039611] hugetlbfs_fallocate+0x410/0x550 [ 195.039612] ? _raw_spin_unlock_irqrestore+0x23/0x40 [ 195.039616] vfs_fallocate+0x12e/0x360 [ 195.039618] __x64_sys_fallocate+0x40/0x70 [ 195.039620] do_syscall_64+0x58/0x80 [ 195.039623] ? syscall_exit_to_user_mode+0x17/0x40 [ 195.039624] ? do_syscall_64+0x67/0x80 [ 195.039626] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd [ 195.039628] RIP: 0033:0x7fc7b590651f [ 195.039653] Code: [...] [ 195.039654] RSP: 002b:00007fc7aaf66e70 EFLAGS: 00000293 ORIG_RAX: 000000000000011d [ 195.039655] RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 0000558ef4b7f370 RCX: 00007fc7b590651f ---truncated---
- Published
- Mar 27, 2025
- Updated
- Oct 15, 2026
- EPSS
- 0.1% · 6th percentile
- CWE
- —
Report tools
Action score
22
Monitor
Low priority for now.
- CVSS
- 22 / 40 · 5.5 / 10
- CISA KEV
- 0 / 30 · Not listed
- EPSS
- 0 / 30 · 0.1%
CISA SSVC decision
- Exploitation
- none
- Automatable
- no
- Technical impact
- total
Vulnrichment: CISA's decision-tree inputs.
CNA vs NVD score
- NVD
- 5.5
- CNA · Linux
- 7.8
- 2.3 point gap
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
The score given by the assigning authority versus NVD’s independent score. A gap means the severity is contested.
Get told when this record changes
- Not in KEV: no record of exploitation in the wild
- No public exploit code on record
- A fix has been released
If any of these changes, we'll tell you in the daily email digest.
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Noroxi analysis
What does it mean in your environment?
The assessment above is generated automatically from the record's data; it doesn't know your environment. Our team verifies on your systems whether this vulnerability is actually exploitable and which mitigation is enough.
We use this product, ask for helpAffected systems
Is your version affected?
Pick the product and type the version you run. It's compared with this record's version ranges in your browser; the version isn't sent anywhere.
| Vendor | Product | CPE |
|---|---|---|
| linux | linux kernel | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel |
Affected versions
NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.
- linux linux kernel5.19 and later · before 6.1.8
- linux linux kernel6.2
Versions reported by the vendor
Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (Linux). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.
Linux Linux
- 5.19affected
- 60dfaad65aa97fb6755b9798a6b3c9e79bcd5930 and later · before 6062c992e912df1eedad52cf64efb3d48e8d35c5affected · git
- 60dfaad65aa97fb6755b9798a6b3c9e79bcd5930 and later · before 0e678153f5be7e6c8d28835f5a678618da4b7a9caffected · git
- before 5.19not affected · semver
- 6.1.8 and later · up to and including 6.1.*not affected · semver
- 6.2 and laternot affected · original_commit_for_fix
Package-level exposure
OSV and GitHub Advisory data: ecosystem, package and range. SBOM matching uses this table.
| Ecosystem | Package | Affected range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian:12 | linux | before 6.1.8-1 | 6.1.8-1 |
Same product
linux: all recordsOther highest-scoring records for the same primary product.
- CVE-2026-31431crypto: algif_aead - Revert to operating out-of-placeKEV90Now
- CVE-2022-0847A flaw was found in the way the "flags" member of the new pipe buffer structure was lacking proper initialization in copy_page_to_iter_pipe KEV89Now
- CVE-2021-22555Heap Out-Of-Bounds Write in Netfilter IP6T_SO_SET_REPLACEKEV85Now
Published before and after this one in the same product
- ← EarlierCVE-2021-4454Mar 27, 2025 · can: j1939: fix errant WARN_ON_ONCE in j1939_session_deactivate22Monitor
- ← EarlierCVE-2022-49743Mar 27, 2025 · ovl: Use "buf" flexible array for memcpy() destination22Monitor
- Later →CVE-2023-52981Mar 27, 2025 · drm/i915: Fix request ref counting during error capture & debugfs dump22Monitor
Remediation
Which version to upgrade to
Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.
| Product / package | Fixed version | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Linux Linux | 0e678153f5be7e6c8d28835f5a678618da4b7a9c | Vendor (CNA) |
| Linux Linux | 6062c992e912df1eedad52cf64efb3d48e8d35c5 | Vendor (CNA) |
| debian:linux | 6.1.8-1 · Debian:12 | Package registry (OSV) |
Exploit status
No known public exploit
No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.
Research context
For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.
Timeline
From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.
No dated events beyond publication.
No history yet (it accumulates with the daily EPSS job).
Patch and commit links
Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.
No commit or PR link among the references.
Credits
All researchersFinders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.
No credits in the CNA record.
Variant candidates
Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.
No nightly-computed relations.
Chain candidates
An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.
—
Bug bounty scope
No known public program.
Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).
Technical details
Attack conditions
- Someone with local access to the system can trigger it.
- A low-privileged account is enough.
- No user action is required.
- No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
If successful
- Confidentiality
- none
- Integrity
- none
- Availability
- high · the service can be disrupted
- Attack vector
- Local
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality impact
- None
- Integrity impact
- None
- Availability impact
- High
Weakness class (CWE)
—
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
nvd-primary
Attack context
MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.
MITRE has no CAPEC/ATT&CK mapping for this CWE.
Change log
- SSVC exploitation— → none
- Fix✗ → ✓
For records you follow, these changes also arrive as notifications. →
References
Show all references (1 more)Show less
Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.