mm/page_alloc: fix initialization of tags of the huge zero folio with init_on_free

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Summary

CVECVE-2026-64130
StatePUBLISHED
AssignerLinux
Source PriorityCVE Program / NVD first with legacy fallback
Published2026-07-19 16:17:54 UTC
Updated2026-07-19 16:17:54 UTC
DescriptionIn the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mm/page_alloc: fix initialization of tags of the huge zero folio with init_on_free __GFP_ZEROTAGS semantics are currently a bit weird, but effectively this flag is only ever set alongside __GFP_ZERO and __GFP_SKIP_KASAN. If we run with init_on_free, we will zero out pages during __free_pages_prepare(), to skip zeroing on the allocation path. However, when allocating with __GFP_ZEROTAG set, post_alloc_hook() will consequently not only skip clearing page content, but also skip clearing tag memory. Not clearing tags through __GFP_ZEROTAGS is irrelevant for most pages that will get mapped to user space through set_pte_at() later: set_pte_at() and friends will detect that the tags have not been initialized yet (PG_mte_tagged not set), and initialize them. However, for the huge zero folio, which will be mapped through a PMD marked as special, this initialization will not be performed, ending up exposing whatever tags were still set for the pages. The docs (Documentation/arch/arm64/memory-tagging-extension.rst) state that allocation tags are set to 0 when a page is first mapped to user space. That no longer holds with the huge zero folio when init_on_free is enabled. Fix it by decoupling __GFP_ZEROTAGS from __GFP_ZERO, passing to tag_clear_highpages() whether we want to also clear page content. Invert the meaning of the tag_clear_highpages() return value to have clearer semantics. Reproduced with the huge zero folio by modifying the check_buffer_fill arm64/mte selftest to use a 2 MiB area, after making sure that pages have a non-0 tag set when freeing (note that, during boot, we will not actually initialize tags, but only set KASAN_TAG_KERNEL in the page flags). $ ./check_buffer_fill 1..20 ... not ok 17 Check initial tags with private mapping, sync error mode and mmap memory not ok 18 Check initial tags with private mapping, sync error mode and mmap/mprotect memory ... This code needs more cleanups; we'll tackle that next, like decoupling __GFP_ZEROTAGS from __GFP_SKIP_KASAN. [[email protected]: s/__GPF_ZERO/__GFP_ZERO/, per David]

Vendor Declared Affected Products

SourceVendorProductVersionPlatforms
CNA Linux Linux affected adfb6609c6809e107ded9a1cd46f519c882e64ea 738d18f1da3513d17b6f7bf30146cc4ac2480ffd git Not specified
CNA Linux Linux affected adfb6609c6809e107ded9a1cd46f519c882e64ea 2f2aec5120b93a8f8b52dc50cdc60dbb8aec72f6 git Not specified
CNA Linux Linux affected adfb6609c6809e107ded9a1cd46f519c882e64ea 6a288a4ddb4a994490505ab5f41c445f8e6b6467 git Not specified
CNA Linux Linux affected 6.18 Not specified
CNA Linux Linux unaffected 6.18 semver Not specified
CNA Linux Linux unaffected 6.18.34 6.18.* semver Not specified
CNA Linux Linux unaffected 7.0.11 7.0.* semver Not specified
CNA Linux Linux unaffected 7.1 * original_commit_for_fix Not specified

References

ReferenceSourceLinkTags
git.kernel.org/stable/c/6a288a4ddb4a994490505ab5f41c445f8e6b6467 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 git.kernel.org
git.kernel.org/stable/c/738d18f1da3513d17b6f7bf30146cc4ac2480ffd 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 git.kernel.org
git.kernel.org/stable/c/2f2aec5120b93a8f8b52dc50cdc60dbb8aec72f6 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 git.kernel.org
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