CVE-2026-72174
Low risk· EPSS 10%Exploitation Probability (EPSS)
Low risk10th percentile - higher than 10% of all known CVEs
Summary
A vulnerability in the Linux kernel causes a self-deadlock in the PAGEMAP_SCAN mechanism for hugetlb mappings. An ioctl request with PM_SCAN_WP_MATCHING on a hugetlb VMA with unpopulated pages hangs the calling thread unkillably. The issue arises from attempting to re-acquire the same VMA lock (read->write) while handling holes in the range.
Risk Assessment
A local attacker can cause a permanent hang of a process (e.g., a service), leading to denial of service (DoS). Since the thread is unkillable, a system reboot may be required.
Recommendation
Apply a Linux kernel update containing the fix for CVE-2026-72174. If not possible, restrict access to the PAGEMAP_SCAN interface (e.g., via appropriate permissions) or disable hugetlb on unused systems.
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Original NVD description (English source)
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: fs/proc/task_mmu: fix hugetlb self-deadlock in pagemap_scan_pte_hole() A PAGEMAP_SCAN ioctl requesting PM_SCAN_WP_MATCHING on a hugetlb VMA hangs the calling thread, unkillably, as soon as the scan reaches an unpopulated part of the range: do_pagemap_scan() walk_page_range() walk_hugetlb_range() hugetlb_vma_lock_read() # take the vma lock for read ... pagemap_scan_pte_hole() # ... ->pte_hole() for a hole uffd_wp_range() change_protection() hugetlb_change_protection() hugetlb_vma_lock_write() # ... and block taking it for write walk_hugetlb_range() holds the hugetlb vma lock for read across the whole walk. A present entry goes to ->hugetlb_entry(); an unpopulated one goes to ->pte_hole(), i.e. pagemap_scan_pte_hole(). To write-protect the hole that handler calls uffd_wp_range(), which on a hugetlb VMA reaches hugetlb_change_protection() and takes the same vma lock for write. The thread then blocks in down_write() waiting for the read lock it is itself holding. The populated path avoids this: pagemap_scan_hugetlb_entry() write-protects the entry inline under the page-table lock and never enters hugetlb_change_protection(). Do the same for holes. Fault in the page table and install the uffd-wp marker directly with make_uffd_wp_huge_pte() under the page-table lock, rather than routing through uffd_wp_range(). That is the same sequence hugetlb_change_protection() runs for an unpopulated entry, minus the vma write lock -- which is safe to skip because PMD sharing is disabled on uffd-wp VMAs (hugetlb_unshare_all_pmds() runs at registration), leaving nothing for that lock to serialise against.