From: "David Hildenbrand (Red Hat)" <david@kernel.org>
To: Lorenzo Stoakes <lorenzo.stoakes@oracle.com>,
Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
Cc: "Liam R . Howlett" <Liam.Howlett@oracle.com>,
Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@suse.cz>, Jann Horn <jannh@google.com>,
Pedro Falcato <pfalcato@suse.de>,
Yeoreum Yun <yeoreum.yun@arm.com>,
linux-mm@kvack.org, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org,
Jeongjun Park <aha310510@gmail.com>,
Rik van Riel <riel@surriel.com>, Harry Yoo <harry.yoo@oracle.com>
Subject: Re: [PATCH] mm/vma: fix anon_vma UAF on mremap() faulted, unfaulted merge
Date: Sun, 4 Jan 2026 20:25:08 +0100 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <dc6a1474-70b4-47d5-b07d-a012b2c37b95@kernel.org> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20260102205520.986725-1-lorenzo.stoakes@oracle.com>
On 1/2/26 21:55, Lorenzo Stoakes wrote:
> Commit 879bca0a2c4f ("mm/vma: fix incorrectly disallowed anonymous VMA
> merges") introduced the ability to merge previously unavailable VMA merge
> scenarios.
>
> The key piece of logic introduced was the ability to merge a faulted VMA
> immediately next to an unfaulted VMA, which relies upon dup_anon_vma() to
> correctly handle anon_vma state.
>
> In the case of the merge of an existing VMA (that is changing properties of
> a VMA and then merging if those properties are shared by adjacent VMAs),
> dup_anon_vma() is invoked correctly.
>
> However in the case of the merge of a new VMA, a corner case peculiar to
> mremap() was missed.
>
> The issue is that vma_expand() only performs dup_anon_vma() if the target
> (the VMA that will ultimately become the merged VMA): is not the next VMA,
> i.e. the one that appears after the range in which the new VMA is to be
> established.
>
> A key insight here is that in all other cases other than mremap(), a new
> VMA merge either expands an existing VMA, meaning that the target VMA will
> be that VMA, or would have anon_vma be NULL.
>
> Specifically:
>
> * __mmap_region() - no anon_vma in place, initial mapping.
> * do_brk_flags() - expanding an existing VMA.
> * vma_merge_extend() - expanding an existing VMA.
> * relocate_vma_down() - no anon_vma in place, initial mapping.
>
> In addition, we are in the unique situation of needing to duplicate
> anon_vma state from a VMA that is neither the previous or next VMA being
> merged with.
>
> To account for this, introduce a new field in struct vma_merge_struct
> specifically for the mremap() case, and update vma_expand() to explicitly
> check for this case and invoke dup_anon_vma() to ensure anon_vma state is
> correctly propagated.
>
> This issue can be observed most directly by invoked mremap() to move around
> a VMA and cause this kind of merge with the MREMAP_DONTUNMAP flag
> specified.
>
> This will result in unlink_anon_vmas() being called after failing to
> duplicate anon_vma state to the target VMA, which results in the anon_vma
> itself being freed with folios still possessing dangling pointers to the
> anon_vma and thus a use-after-free bug.
Makes sense to me.
>
> This bug was discovered via a syzbot report, which this patch resolves.
>
> The following program reproduces the issue (and is fixed by this patch):
>
> #define _GNU_SOURCE
> #include <stdio.h>
> #include <stdlib.h>
> #include <unistd.h>
> #include <sys/mman.h>
>
> #define RESERVED_PGS (100)
> #define VMA_A_PGS (10)
> #define VMA_B_PGS (10)
> #define NUM_ITERS (1000)
>
> static void trigger_bug(void)
> {
> unsigned long page_size = sysconf(_SC_PAGE_SIZE);
> char *reserved, *ptr_a, *ptr_b;
>
> /*
> * The goal here is to achieve:
> *
> * mremap() with MREMAP_DONTUNMAP such that A and B merge:
> *
> * |-------------------------|
> * | |
> * | |-----------| |---------|
> * v | unfaulted | | faulted |
> * |-----------| |---------|
> * B A
> *
> * Then unmap VMA A to trigger the bug.
> */
>
> /* Reserve a region of memory to operate in. */
> reserved = mmap(NULL, RESERVED_PGS * page_size, PROT_NONE,
> MAP_PRIVATE | MAP_ANON, -1, 0);
> if (reserved == MAP_FAILED) {
> perror("mmap reserved");
> exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
> }
>
> /* Map VMA A into place. */
> ptr_a = mmap(&reserved[page_size], VMA_A_PGS * page_size,
> PROT_READ | PROT_WRITE,
> MAP_PRIVATE | MAP_ANON | MAP_FIXED, -1, 0);
> if (ptr_a == MAP_FAILED) {
> perror("mmap VMA A");
> exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
> }
> /* Fault it in. */
> ptr_a[0] = 'x';
>
> /*
> * Now move it out of the way so we can place VMA B in position,
> * unfaulted.
> */
> ptr_a = mremap(ptr_a, VMA_A_PGS * page_size, VMA_A_PGS * page_size,
> MREMAP_FIXED | MREMAP_MAYMOVE, &reserved[50 * page_size]);
> if (ptr_a == MAP_FAILED) {
> perror("mremap VMA A out of the way");
> exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
> }
>
> /* Map VMA B into place. */
> ptr_b = mmap(&reserved[page_size + VMA_A_PGS * page_size],
> VMA_B_PGS * page_size, PROT_READ | PROT_WRITE,
> MAP_PRIVATE | MAP_ANON | MAP_FIXED, -1, 0);
> if (ptr_b == MAP_FAILED) {
> perror("mmap VMA B");
> exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
> }
>
> /* Now move VMA A into position w/MREMAP_DONTUNMAP + free anon_vma. */
> ptr_a = mremap(ptr_a, VMA_A_PGS * page_size, VMA_A_PGS * page_size,
> MREMAP_FIXED | MREMAP_MAYMOVE | MREMAP_DONTUNMAP,
> &reserved[page_size]);
> if (ptr_a == MAP_FAILED) {
> perror("mremap VMA A with MREMAP_DONTUNMAP");
> exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
> }
>
> /* Finally, unmap VMA A which should trigger the bug. */
> munmap(ptr_a, VMA_A_PGS * page_size);
>
> /* Cleanup in case bug didn't trigger sufficiently visibly... */
> munmap(reserved, RESERVED_PGS * page_size);
> }
>
> int main(void)
> {
> int i;
>
> for (i = 0; i < NUM_ITERS; i++)
> trigger_bug();
Just wondering, why do we have to loop, I would have thought that this would
trigger deterministically.
>
> return EXIT_SUCCESS;
> }
>
> Signed-off-by: Lorenzo Stoakes <lorenzo.stoakes@oracle.com>
> Fixes: 879bca0a2c4f ("mm/vma: fix incorrectly disallowed anonymous VMA merges")
> Reported-by: syzbot+b165fc2e11771c66d8ba@syzkaller.appspotmail.com
> Closes: https://lore.kernel.org/all/694a2745.050a0220.19928e.0017.GAE@google.com/
> Cc: stable@kernel.org
I was wondering whether this commit actually fixes older reports that Jann
mentioned in his commit a222439e1e27 ("mm/rmap: add anon_vma lifetime debug check").
[1] https://lore.kernel.org/r/67abaeaf.050a0220.110943.0041.GAE@google.com
[2] https://lore.kernel.org/r/67a76f33.050a0220.3d72c.0028.GAE@google.com
But 879bca0a2c4f went into v6.16, but [1] and [2] are against v6.14.
So naturally I wonder, could it be that we had a bug even before 879bca0a2c4f that
resulted in similar symptoms?
Option (1): [1] and [2] are already fixed
Option (2): [1] and [2] are still broken
Option (3): [1] and [2] would be fixed by your patch as well
But we don't even have reproducers, so [1] and [2] could just be a side-effect of
another bug, maybe.
> ---
> mm/vma.c | 58 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++--------------
> mm/vma.h | 3 +++
> 2 files changed, 47 insertions(+), 14 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/mm/vma.c b/mm/vma.c
> index 6377aa290a27..2268f518a89b 100644
> --- a/mm/vma.c
> +++ b/mm/vma.c
> @@ -1130,26 +1130,50 @@ int vma_expand(struct vma_merge_struct *vmg)
> mmap_assert_write_locked(vmg->mm);
>
> vma_start_write(target);
> - if (next && (target != next) && (vmg->end == next->vm_end)) {
> + if (next && vmg->end == next->vm_end) {
> + struct vm_area_struct *copied_from = vmg->copied_from;
> int ret;
>
> - sticky_flags |= next->vm_flags & VM_STICKY;
> - remove_next = true;
> - /* This should already have been checked by this point. */
> - VM_WARN_ON_VMG(!can_merge_remove_vma(next), vmg);
> - vma_start_write(next);
> - /*
> - * In this case we don't report OOM, so vmg->give_up_on_mm is
> - * safe.
> - */
> - ret = dup_anon_vma(target, next, &anon_dup);
> - if (ret)
> - return ret;
> + if (target != next) {
> + sticky_flags |= next->vm_flags & VM_STICKY;
> + remove_next = true;
> + /* This should already have been checked by this point. */
> + VM_WARN_ON_VMG(!can_merge_remove_vma(next), vmg);
> + vma_start_write(next);
> + /*
> + * In this case we don't report OOM, so vmg->give_up_on_mm is
> + * safe.
> + */
> + ret = dup_anon_vma(target, next, &anon_dup);
> + if (ret)
> + return ret;
> + } else if (copied_from) {
> + vma_start_write(next);
> +
> + /*
> + * We are copying from a VMA (i.e. mremap()'ing) to
> + * next, and thus must ensure that either anon_vma's are
> + * already compatible (in which case this call is a nop)
> + * or all anon_vma state is propagated to next
> + */
> + ret = dup_anon_vma(next, copied_from, &anon_dup);
> + if (ret)
> + return ret;
> + } else {
> + /* In no other case may the anon_vma differ. */
> + VM_WARN_ON_VMG(target->anon_vma != next->anon_vma, vmg);
> + }
No expert on that code, but looks reasonable to me.
Wondering whether we want to pull the vma_start_write(next) before the loop
(for the warn we certainly don't care).
--
Cheers
David
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2026-01-04 19:25 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 8+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2026-01-02 20:55 Lorenzo Stoakes
2026-01-02 21:00 ` Lorenzo Stoakes
2026-01-04 19:25 ` David Hildenbrand (Red Hat) [this message]
2026-01-05 12:53 ` Lorenzo Stoakes
2026-01-05 5:11 ` Harry Yoo
2026-01-05 9:12 ` Lorenzo Stoakes
2026-01-05 15:24 ` Liam R. Howlett
2026-01-05 15:32 ` Lorenzo Stoakes
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