Linux 7.2-rc7 Addresses A "Nasty" Race Condition Leading To Use-After-Free After 8 Years
The Linux kernel Git activity continues being quite heavy this week on fixes. It's looking like the Linux 7.2-rc7 kernel release on Sunday will be another big one with the changes continuing to flow in from both developers and AI bots...
A patch series has been introduced to Linux 7.2-rc7, addressing a critical race condition that has persisted for 8 years. The issue stems from a race between ptdump and vmap when mapping a large P4D, PMD, or PUD entry. This race condition creates the potential for a use-after-free vulnerability if the ptdump page table walker encounters a PUD, PMD, or PTE page table that has already been freed.
The ptdump patch series, authored by Michael Larabel, aims to fix this longstanding problem. Michael Larabel, the principal author of Phoronix.com, has been focusing on enriching the Linux hardware experience through his extensive coverage of Linux hardware support, performance, graphics drivers, and other relevant topics since 2004.
Written by urgent.news from Phoronix's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
