CVE-2025-40272 (GCVE-0-2025-40272)

Vulnerability from cvelistv5 – Published: 2025-12-06 21:50 – Updated: 2026-08-05 12:09
VLAI
Title
mm/secretmem: fix use-after-free race in fault handler
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mm/secretmem: fix use-after-free race in fault handler When a page fault occurs in a secret memory file created with `memfd_secret(2)`, the kernel will allocate a new folio for it, mark the underlying page as not-present in the direct map, and add it to the file mapping. If two tasks cause a fault in the same page concurrently, both could end up allocating a folio and removing the page from the direct map, but only one would succeed in adding the folio to the file mapping. The task that failed undoes the effects of its attempt by (a) freeing the folio again and (b) putting the page back into the direct map. However, by doing these two operations in this order, the page becomes available to the allocator again before it is placed back in the direct mapping. If another task attempts to allocate the page between (a) and (b), and the kernel tries to access it via the direct map, it would result in a supervisor not-present page fault. Fix the ordering to restore the direct map before the folio is freed.
Severity
7.8 (High)
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Assigner
References
Impacted products
Vendor Product Version
Linux Linux Affected: 1507f51255c9ff07d75909a84e7c0d7f3c4b2f49 , < bb1c19636aedae39360e6fdbcaef4f2bcff25785 (git)
Affected: 1507f51255c9ff07d75909a84e7c0d7f3c4b2f49 , < 1e4643d6628edf9c0047b1f8f5bc574665025acb (git)
Affected: 1507f51255c9ff07d75909a84e7c0d7f3c4b2f49 , < 42d486d35a4143cc37fc72ee66edc99d942dd367 (git)
Affected: 1507f51255c9ff07d75909a84e7c0d7f3c4b2f49 , < 52f2d5cf33de9a8f5e72bbb0ed38282ae0bc4649 (git)
Affected: 1507f51255c9ff07d75909a84e7c0d7f3c4b2f49 , < 4444767e625da46009fc94a453fd1967b80ba047 (git)
Affected: 1507f51255c9ff07d75909a84e7c0d7f3c4b2f49 , < 6f86d0534fddfbd08687fa0f01479d4226bc3c3d (git)
Create a notification for this product.
Linux Linux Affected: 5.14
Unaffected: 0 , < 5.14 (semver)
Unaffected: 5.15.197 , ≤ 5.15.* (semver)
Unaffected: 6.1.159 , ≤ 6.1.* (semver)
Unaffected: 6.6.117 , ≤ 6.6.* (semver)
Unaffected: 6.12.59 , ≤ 6.12.* (semver)
Unaffected: 6.17.9 , ≤ 6.17.* (semver)
Unaffected: 6.18 , ≤ * (original_commit_for_fix)
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          "value": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nmm/secretmem: fix use-after-free race in fault handler\n\nWhen a page fault occurs in a secret memory file created with\n`memfd_secret(2)`, the kernel will allocate a new folio for it, mark the\nunderlying page as not-present in the direct map, and add it to the file\nmapping.\n\nIf two tasks cause a fault in the same page concurrently, both could end\nup allocating a folio and removing the page from the direct map, but only\none would succeed in adding the folio to the file mapping.  The task that\nfailed undoes the effects of its attempt by (a) freeing the folio again\nand (b) putting the page back into the direct map.  However, by doing\nthese two operations in this order, the page becomes available to the\nallocator again before it is placed back in the direct mapping.\n\nIf another task attempts to allocate the page between (a) and (b), and the\nkernel tries to access it via the direct map, it would result in a\nsupervisor not-present page fault.\n\nFix the ordering to restore the direct map before the folio is freed."
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              "value": "AV:L - The vulnerability is reached purely through local syscalls \u2014 `memfd_secret(2)`, `ftruncate(2)`, `mmap(2)` and a page fault on the resulting mapping. There is no network or remote-peer component to secretmem.\nAC:L - The attacker creates both sides of the race: two threads faulting the same file offset under the shared invalidate lock deterministically force the `filemap_add_folio()` `-EEXIST` loser into the buggy path, while additional attacker threads spray page allocations to claim the freed page in the window, and the whole sequence can be retried indefinitely.\nPR:L - `memfd_secret(2)` performs no capability check whatsoever and `CONFIG_SECRETMEM` is `default y` with `secretmem_enable` on by default since v6.10, so any unprivileged local user can reach the fault handler needing only default `RLIMIT_MEMLOCK` headroom for a single page.\nUI:N - The attacker triggers the entire sequence within its own process and threads; no victim action, mount, or file open by another user is required.\nS:U - The corrupted direct-map state and the resulting fault are confined to the kernel\u0027s own security authority; no VM, IOMMU, or sandbox boundary is crossed.\nC:H - This is a use-after-free/page-reuse condition, and concretely the post-free `set_direct_map_default_noflush()` can re-insert another task\u0027s secretmem page into the kernel direct map, destroying exactly the direct-map-absence guarantee memfd_secret exists to provide and exposing those secrets to kernel-side reads, speculative-execution gadgets, and hibernation images.\nI:H - The stale `set_direct_map_default_noflush()` applies `_PAGE_PRESENT|_PAGE_RW` (x86) / sets `PTE_WRITE` and clears `PTE_RDONLY` (arm64) to a page already reallocated to a different owner, silently downgrading direct-map write protection on foreign memory, and a UAF of an allocator page is a general heap-grooming primitive for control-flow hijack.\nA:H - A kernel access to the recycled page via the still-not-present direct map raises a supervisor not-present page fault, producing an oops/panic \u2014 frequently inside the page allocator while zone/pcp locks are held, hanging the system."
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    "cveId": "CVE-2025-40272",
    "datePublished": "2025-12-06T21:50:54.629Z",
    "dateReserved": "2025-04-16T07:20:57.183Z",
    "dateUpdated": "2026-08-05T12:09:05.596Z",
    "state": "PUBLISHED"
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The task that\\nfailed undoes the effects of its attempt by (a) freeing the folio again\\nand (b) putting the page back into the direct map.  However, by doing\\nthese two operations in this order, the page becomes available to the\\nallocator again before it is placed back in the direct mapping.\\n\\nIf another task attempts to allocate the page between (a) and (b), and the\\nkernel tries to access it via the direct map, it would result in a\\nsupervisor not-present page fault.\\n\\nFix the ordering to restore the direct map before the folio is freed.\"}],\"affected\":[{\"source\":\"416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67\",\"affectedData\":[{\"vendor\":\"Linux\",\"product\":\"Linux\",\"defaultStatus\":\"unaffected\",\"programFiles\":[\"mm/secretmem.c\"],\"repo\":\"https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git\",\"versions\":[{\"version\":\"1507f51255c9ff07d75909a84e7c0d7f3c4b2f49\",\"lessThan\":\"bb1c19636aedae39360e6fdbcaef4f2bcff25785\",\"versionType\":\"git\",\"status\":\"affected\"},{\"version\":\"1507f51255c9ff07d75909a84e7c0d7f3c4b2f49\",\"lessThan\":\"1e4643d6628edf9c0047b1f8f5bc574665025acb\",\"versionType\":\"git\",\"status\":\"affected\"},{\"version\":\"1507f51255c9ff07d75909a84e7c0d7f3c4b2f49\",\"lessThan\":\"42d486d35a4143cc37fc72ee66edc99d942dd367\",\"versionType\":\"git\",\"status\":\"affected\"},{\"version\":\"1507f51255c9ff07d75909a84e7c0d7f3c4b2f49\",\"lessThan\":\"52f2d5cf33de9a8f5e72bbb0ed38282ae0bc4649\",\"versionType\":\"git\",\"status\":\"affected\"},{\"version\":\"1507f51255c9ff07d75909a84e7c0d7f3c4b2f49\",\"lessThan\":\"4444767e625da46009fc94a453fd1967b80ba047\",\"versionType\":\"git\",\"status\":\"affected\"},{\"version\":\"1507f51255c9ff07d75909a84e7c0d7f3c4b2f49\",\"lessThan\":\"6f86d0534fddfbd08687fa0f01479d4226bc3c3d\",\"versionType\":\"git\",\"status\":\"affected\"}]},{\"vendor\":\"Linux\",\"product\":\"Linux\",\"defaultStatus\":\"affected\",\"programFiles\":[\"mm/secretmem.c\"],\"repo\":\"https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git\",\"versions\":[{\"version\":\"5.14\",\"status\":\"affected\"},{\"version\":\"0\",\"lessThan\":\"5.14\",\"versionType\":\"semver\",\"status\":\"unaffected\"},{\"version\":\"5.15.197\",\"lessThanOrEqual\":\"5.15.*\",\"versionType\":\"semver\",\"status\":\"unaffected\"},{\"version\":\"6.1.159\",\"lessThanOrEqual\":\"6.1.*\",\"versionType\":\"semver\",\"status\":\"unaffected\"},{\"version\":\"6.6.117\",\"lessThanOrEqual\":\"6.6.*\",\"versionType\":\"semver\",\"status\":\"unaffected\"},{\"version\":\"6.12.59\",\"lessThanOrEqual\":\"6.12.*\",\"versionType\":\"semver\",\"status\":\"unaffected\"},{\"version\":\"6.17.9\",\"lessThanOrEqual\":\"6.17.*\",\"versionType\":\"semver\",\"status\":\"unaffected\"},{\"version\":\"6.18\",\"lessThanOrEqual\":\"*\",\"versionType\":\"original_commit_for_fix\",\"status\":\"unaffected\"}]}]}],\"metrics\":{\"cvssMetricV31\":[{\"source\":\"416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67\",\"type\":\"Secondary\",\"cvssData\":{\"version\":\"3.1\",\"vectorString\":\"CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H\",\"baseScore\":7.8,\"baseSeverity\":\"HIGH\",\"attackVector\":\"LOCAL\",\"attackComplexity\":\"LOW\",\"privilegesRequired\":\"LOW\",\"userInteraction\":\"NONE\",\"scope\":\"UNCHANGED\",\"confidentialityImpact\":\"HIGH\",\"integrityImpact\":\"HIGH\",\"availabilityImpact\":\"HIGH\"},\"exploitabilityScore\":1.8,\"impactScore\":5.9}]},\"references\":[{\"url\":\"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1e4643d6628edf9c0047b1f8f5bc574665025acb\",\"source\":\"416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67\"},{\"url\":\"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/42d486d35a4143cc37fc72ee66edc99d942dd367\",\"source\":\"416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67\"},{\"url\":\"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4444767e625da46009fc94a453fd1967b80ba047\",\"source\":\"416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67\"},{\"url\":\"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/52f2d5cf33de9a8f5e72bbb0ed38282ae0bc4649\",\"source\":\"416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67\"},{\"url\":\"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6f86d0534fddfbd08687fa0f01479d4226bc3c3d\",\"source\":\"416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67\"},{\"url\":\"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/bb1c19636aedae39360e6fdbcaef4f2bcff25785\",\"source\":\"416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67\"}]}}",
    "redhat_vex": {
      "aggregate_severity": "Moderate",
      "current_release_date": "2026-07-30T08:43:09+00:00",
      "cve": "CVE-2025-40272",
      "id": "CVE-2025-40272",
      "initial_release_date": "2025-12-06T00:00:00+00:00",
      "product_status:known_affected": "184",
      "product_status:known_not_affected": "90",
      "source": "Red Hat CSAF VEX",
      "status": "final",
      "title": "kernel: mm/secretmem: fix use-after-free race in fault handler",
      "url": "https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2025/cve-2025-40272.json",
      "version": "3"
    },
    "suse_vex": {
      "aggregate_severity": "moderate",
      "current_release_date": "2026-07-25T00:32:28Z",
      "cve": "CVE-2025-40272",
      "id": "CVE-2025-40272",
      "initial_release_date": "2025-12-08T00:23:20Z",
      "product_status:first_fixed": "2",
      "product_status:known_affected": "506",
      "product_status:known_not_affected": "203",
      "product_status:recommended": "402",
      "source": "SUSE CSAF VEX",
      "status": "interim",
      "title": "SUSE CVE CVE-2025-40272",
      "url": "https://ftp.suse.com/pub/projects/security/csaf-vex/cve-2025-40272.json",
      "version": "33"
    }
  }
}



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Forecast uses a logistic model when the trend is rising, or an exponential decay model when the trend is falling. Fitted via linearized least squares.

Sightings

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Nomenclature

  • Seen: The vulnerability was mentioned, discussed, or observed by the user.
  • Confirmed: The vulnerability has been validated from an analyst's perspective.
  • Published Proof of Concept: A public proof of concept is available for this vulnerability.
  • Exploited: The vulnerability was observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
  • Patched: The vulnerability was observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.
  • Not exploited: The vulnerability was not observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
  • Not confirmed: The user expressed doubt about the validity of the vulnerability.
  • Not patched: The vulnerability was not observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.


Detection rules are retrieved from Rulezet.