cbcvebase.
CVE-2025-68211
published 2025-12-16

CVE-2025-68211: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ksm: use range-walk function to jump over holes in scan_get_next_rmap_item Currently…

PriorityP421medium5.5CVSS 3.1
AVLACLPRLUINSUCNINAH
EPSS
0.13%
3.1th percentile
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ksm: use range-walk function to jump over holes in scan_get_next_rmap_item Currently, scan_get_next_rmap_item() walks every page address in a VMA to locate mergeable pages. This becomes highly inefficient when scanning large virtual memory areas that contain mostly unmapped regions, causing ksmd to use large amount of cpu without deduplicating much pages. This patch replaces the per-address lookup with a range walk using walk_page_range(). The range walker allows KSM to skip over entire unmapped holes in a VMA, avoiding unnecessary lookups. This problem was previously discussed in [1]. Consider the following test program which creates a 32 TiB mapping in the virtual address space but only populates a single page: #include #include #include /* 32 TiB */ const size_t size = 32ul * 1024 * 1024 * 1024 * 1024; int main() { char *area = mmap(NULL, size, PROT_READ | PROT_WRITE, MAP_NORESERVE | MAP_PRIVATE | MAP_ANON, -1, 0); if (area == MAP_FAILED) { perror("mmap() failed\n"); return -1; } /* Populate a single page such that we get an anon_vma. */ *area = 0; /* Enable KSM. */ madvise(area, size, MADV_MERGEABLE); pause(); return 0; } $ ./ksm-sparse & $ echo 1 > /sys/kernel/mm/ksm/run Without this patch ksmd uses 100% of the cpu for a long time (more then 1 hour in my test machine) scanning all the 32 TiB virtual address space that contain only one mapped page. This makes ksmd essentially deadlocked not able to deduplicate anything of value. With this patch ksmd walks only the one mapped page and skips the rest of the 32 TiB virtual address space, making the scan fast using little cpu.

Affected

47 ranges· showing 25
VendorProductVersion rangeFixed in
debianlinux< linux 6.1.162-1 (bookworm)linux 6.1.162-1 (bookworm)
debianlinux-6.1< linux 6.1.162-1 (bookworm)linux 6.1.162-1 (bookworm)
linuxlinux
linuxlinux>= 31dbd01f314364b70c2e026a5793a29a4da8a9dc < 220cb3e425e17587f560335924cba9f16a842c64220cb3e425e17587f560335924cba9f16a842c64
linuxlinux>= 31dbd01f314364b70c2e026a5793a29a4da8a9dc < 10644e8839544dd5699c03c8fb1aeeefc41602fd10644e8839544dd5699c03c8fb1aeeefc41602fd
linuxlinux>= 31dbd01f314364b70c2e026a5793a29a4da8a9dc < 67137b715b7db28d82e4ed07a7092c2fa6ba7adb67137b715b7db28d82e4ed07a7092c2fa6ba7adb
linuxlinux>= 31dbd01f314364b70c2e026a5793a29a4da8a9dc < 9c2f8a9b68024e5ebb4813665845ec0a95f2eac39c2f8a9b68024e5ebb4813665845ec0a95f2eac3
linuxlinux>= 31dbd01f314364b70c2e026a5793a29a4da8a9dc < 74f78421c925b6d17695566f0c5941de57fd44b374f78421c925b6d17695566f0c5941de57fd44b3
linuxlinux>= 31dbd01f314364b70c2e026a5793a29a4da8a9dc < f62973e0767e4fcd6799087787fca08ca2a85b8cf62973e0767e4fcd6799087787fca08ca2a85b8c
linuxlinux>= 31dbd01f314364b70c2e026a5793a29a4da8a9dc < f5548c318d6520d4fa3c5ed6003eeb710763cbc5f5548c318d6520d4fa3c5ed6003eeb710763cbc5
linuxlinux_kernel
linuxlinux_kernel>= 0 < 5.10.249-15.10.249-1
linuxlinux_kernel>= 0 < 6.1.162-16.1.162-1
linuxlinux_kernel>= 0 < 6.12.63-16.12.63-1
linuxlinux_kernel>= 0 < 6.17.9-16.17.9-1
linuxlinux_kernel>= 0 < 6.17.0-14.146.17.0-14.14
linuxlinux_kernel>= 2.6.32 < 5.10.2495.10.249
linuxlinux_kernel>= 5.11 < 5.15.1995.15.199
linuxlinux_kernel>= 5.16 < 6.1.1616.1.161
linuxlinux_kernel>= 6.13 < 6.17.96.17.9
linuxlinux_kernel>= 6.2 < 6.6.1216.6.121
linuxlinux_kernel>= 6.7 < 6.12.596.12.59
msrcazl3_kernel_6.6.117.1-1_on_azure_linux_3.0
msrcazl3_kernel_6.6.119.3-1_on_azure_linux_3.0
msrcazl3_kernel_6.6.119.3-3_on_azure_linux_3.0

CVSS provenance

nvdv3.15.5MEDIUMCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
osv5.5MEDIUM
vendor_ubuntu7.8HIGH
vendor_debian5.5MEDIUM
vendor_msrc5.5MEDIUM
vendor_redhat5.5MEDIUM
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