CVE-2026-53109

What it is

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: powerpc/pgtable-frag: Fix bad page state in pte_frag_destroy powerpc uses pt_frag_refcount as a reference counter for tracking it's pte and pmd page table fragments. For PTE table, in case of Hash with 64K pagesize, we have 16 fragments of 4K size in one 64K page. Patch series [1] "mm: free retracted page table by RCU" added pte_free_defer() to defer the freeing of PTE tables when retract_page_tables() is called for madvise MADV_COLLAPSE on shmem range. [1]: https://lore.kernel.org/all/[email protected]/ pte_free_defer() sets the active flag on the corresponding fragment's folio & calls pte_fragment_free(), which reduces the pt_frag_refcount. When pt_frag_refcount reaches 0 (no active fragment using the folio), it checks if the folio active flag is set, if set, it calls call_rcu to free the folio, it the active flag is unset then it calls pte_free_now(). Now, this can lead to following problem in a corner case... [ 265.351553][ T183] BUG: Bad page state in process a.out pfn:20d62 [ 265.353555][ T183] page: refcount:0 mapcount:0 mapping:0000000000000000 index:0x0 pfn:0x20d62 [ 265.355457][ T183] flags: 0x3ffff800000100(active|node=0|zone=0|lastcpupid=0x7ffff) [ 265.358719][ T183] raw: 003ffff800000100 0000000000000000 5deadbeef0000122 0000000000000000 [ 265.360177][ T183] raw: 0000000000000000 c0000000119caf58 00000000ffffffff 0000000000000000 [ 265.361438][ T183] page dumped because: PAGE_FLAGS_CHECK_AT_FREE flag(s) set [ 265.362572][ T183] Modules linked in: [ 265.364622][ T183] CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 183 Comm: a.out Not tainted 6.18.0-rc3-00141-g1ddeaaace7ff-dirty #53 VOLUNTARY [ 265.364785][ T183] Hardware name: IBM pSeries (emulated by qemu) POWER10 (architected) 0x801200 0xf000006 of:SLOF,git-ee03ae pSeries [ 265.364908][ T183] Call Trace: [ 265.364955][ T183] [c000000011e6f7c0] [c000000001cfaa18] dump_stack_lvl+0x130/0x148 (unreliable) [ 265.365202][ T183] [c000000011e6f7f0] [c000000000794758] bad_page+0xb4/0x1c8 [ 265.365384][ T183] [c000000011e6f890] [c00000000079c020] __free_frozen_pages+0x838/0xd08 [ 265.365554][ T183] [c000000011e6f980] [c0000000000a70ac] pte_frag_destroy+0x298/0x310 [ 265.365729][ T183] [c000000011e6fa30] [c0000000000aa764] arch_exit_mmap+0x34/0x218 [ 265.365912][ T183] [c000000011e6fa80] [c000000000751698] exit_mmap+0xb8/0x820 [ 265.366080][ T183] [c000000011e6fc30] [c0000000001b1258] __mmput+0x98/0x300 [ 265.366244][ T183] [c000000011e6fc80] [c0000000001c81f8] do_exit+0x470/0x1508 [ 265.366421][ T183] [c000000011e6fd70] [c0000000001c95e4] do_group_exit+0x88/0x148 [ 265.366602][ T183] [c000000011e6fdc0] [c0000000001c96ec] pid_child_should_wake+0x0/0x178 [ 265.366780][ T183] [c000000011e6fdf0] [c00000000003a270] system_call_exception+0x1b0/0x4e0 [ 265.366958][ T183] [c000000011e6fe50] [c00000000000d05c] system_call_vectored_common+0x15c/0x2ec The bad page state error occurs when such a folio gets freed (with active flag set), from do_exit() path in parallel. ... this can happen when the pte fragment was allocated from this folio, but when all the fragments get freed, the pte_frag_refcount still had some unused fragments. Now, if this process exits, with such folio as it's cached pte_frag in mm->context, then during pte_frag_destroy(), we simply call pagetable_dtor() and pagetable_free(), meaning it doesn't clear the active flag. This, can lead to the above bug. Since we are anyway in do_exit() path, then if the refcount is 0, then I guess it should be ok to simply clear the folio active flag before calling pagetable_dtor() & pagetable_free().

At a glance

Exploitability

Can be exploited locally on the machine with a low-privilege account. High risk of data exposure, data tampering, service disruption.

Exploit odds

0.1% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days (EPSS).

Fix

A patch, advisory or fixed version is referenced. Upgrade or apply it.

Timeline

1. 2026-06-24 17:17 UTC PublishedDisclosed publicly on CVE.org and NVD
2. 2026-11-06 17:18 UTC Last updatedMost recent change to the record

Why it ranks here

• Exploited in the wild: no, CISA does not list it.
• Exploit odds: 0.1% in the next 30 days (EPSS).
• Severity: 7.8 HIGH (CVSS).
• Fix: a patch or advisory is linked.

Details

Published

2026-06-24 17:17 UTC

Last modified

2026-11-06 17:18 UTC

Exploit probability

0.1% · EPSS, next 30 days

Weakness

CWE-416 · Use after free

Record status

Modified

Affected

• Linux Kernel < 6.18.33
• Linux Kernel < 7.0.10

Attack profile CVSS 3.1 · 7.8

Attack vector

Local

Complexity

Low

Privileges needed

Low

User interaction

None

Scope

Unchanged

Confidentiality

High

Integrity

High

Availability

High

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