7.1
HIGH CVSS 3.1
CVE-2026-72043
LoongArch: Fix missing dirty page tracking in {pte,pmd}_wrprotect()
Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: LoongArch: Fix missing dirty page tracking in {pte,pmd}_wrprotect() When hardware page table walker (PTW) is enabled on LoongArch, the CPU may set _PAGE_DIRTY directly in the page table entry during a write TLB miss, without going through the software TLB store handler. The software TLB store handler (tlbex.S:254) sets both _PAGE_DIRTY and_PAGE_MODIFIED together: ori t0, t0, (_PAGE_VALID | _PAGE_DIRTY | _PAGE_MODIFIED) Since hardware PTW only sets _PAGE_DIRTY, the software-only bit, i.e. _PAGE_MODIFIED is left unchanged. This creates a window where a PTE has _PAGE_DIRTY set (hardware knows the page is dirty) but _PAGE_MODIFIED clear (software is unaware). When fork()/clone() triggers copy-on-write, __copy_present_ptes() calls pte_wrprotect(), which unconditionally clears both the _PAGE_WRITE and _PAGE_DIRTY bits: pte_val(pte) &= ~(_PAGE_WRITE | _PAGE_DIRTY); Since _PAGE_MODIFIED was never set, the dirtiness information is lost completely. Subsequently, when memory pressure triggers page reclaim, page_mkclean() / try_to_unmap() sees the page as clean (i.e. pte_dirty() returns false) and the page may be freed without writeback, causing data corruption. Fix this by propagating the _PAGE_DIRTY bit to the _PAGE_MODIFIED bit in both pte_wrprotect() and pmd_wrprotect() before clearing writeable bits: if (pte_val(pte) & _PAGE_DIRTY) pte_val(pte) |= _PAGE_MODIFIED; The pmd_wrprotect() fix handles the CONFIG_TRANSPARENT_HUGEPAGE case, where pmd entries need the same treatment. This ensures the software dirty tracking bit (checked by pte_dirty() and pmd_dirty(), which read both the _PAGE_DIRTY and _PAGE_MODIFIED bits) is preserved across fork COW write-protection. The issue was found by the LTP madvise09 test case, which exercises page reclaim after "madvise(MADV_FREE), write and fork" operation sequence on private anonymous mappings.

INFO

Published Date :

Aug. 15, 2026, 6:21 a.m.

Last Modified :

Aug. 17, 2026, 6:18 a.m.

Remotely Exploit :

No

Source :

416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
Affected Products

The following products are affected by CVE-2026-72043 vulnerability. Even if cvefeed.io is aware of the exact versions of the products that are affected, the information is not represented in the table below.

ID Vendor Product Action
1 Linux linux_kernel
CVSS Scores
The Common Vulnerability Scoring System is a standardized framework for assessing the severity of vulnerabilities in software and systems. We collect and displays CVSS scores from various sources for each CVE.
Score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Score Impact Score Source
CVSS 3.1 HIGH 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
Solution
Apply Linux kernel patches to fix dirty page tracking during fork and page reclaim operations.
  • Update the Linux kernel to the patched version.
  • Verify dirty page tracking logic in page table entries.
  • Ensure _PAGE_DIRTY is propagated to _PAGE_MODIFIED.
  • Test page reclaim after fork and COW operations.
CWE - Common Weakness Enumeration

While CVE identifies specific instances of vulnerabilities, CWE categorizes the common flaws or weaknesses that can lead to vulnerabilities. CVE-2026-72043 is associated with the following CWEs:

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC) stores attack patterns, which are descriptions of the common attributes and approaches employed by adversaries to exploit the CVE-2026-72043 weaknesses.

We scan GitHub repositories to detect new proof-of-concept exploits. Following list is a collection of public exploits and proof-of-concepts, which have been published on GitHub (sorted by the most recently updated).

Results are limited to the first 15 repositories due to potential performance issues.

The following list is the news that have been mention CVE-2026-72043 vulnerability anywhere in the article.

The following table lists the changes that have been made to the CVE-2026-72043 vulnerability over time.

Vulnerability history details can be useful for understanding the evolution of a vulnerability, and for identifying the most recent changes that may impact the vulnerability's severity, exploitability, or other characteristics.

  • CVE Modified by 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

    Aug. 17, 2026

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added CVSS V3.1 AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
    Changed Affected [{'repo': 'https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git', 'vendor': 'Linux', 'product': 'Linux', 'versions': [{'status': 'affected', 'version': '09cfefb7fa70c3af011b0db0a513fd80b2f18abc', 'lessThan': '76f88650763a35cbf1384c65d66d096fa31cc58d', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': '09cfefb7fa70c3af011b0db0a513fd80b2f18abc', 'lessThan': 'e8a916579e427af32f2de8213dfa23c5df6e6664', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': '09cfefb7fa70c3af011b0db0a513fd80b2f18abc', 'lessThan': '39bb21a4bff0d70058bf752d7b5aa2e2ccc864a9', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': '09cfefb7fa70c3af011b0db0a513fd80b2f18abc', 'lessThan': 'a65f49b6f7ece756394f8f0e85570020e7fd0e35', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': '09cfefb7fa70c3af011b0db0a513fd80b2f18abc', 'lessThan': 'e483da960892c41fa7f0cf0d2fc2410d65a483d6', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': '09cfefb7fa70c3af011b0db0a513fd80b2f18abc', 'lessThan': '018e9828eb523c638fa3d9bdf0fd4956b74555b2', 'versionType': 'git'}], 'programFiles': ['arch/loongarch/include/asm/pgtable.h'], 'defaultStatus': 'unaffected'}, {'repo': 'https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git', 'vendor': 'Linux', 'product': 'Linux', 'versions': [{'status': 'affected', 'version': '5.19'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '0', 'lessThan': '5.19', 'versionType': 'semver'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '6.1.178', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '6.1.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '6.6.145', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '6.6.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '6.12.97', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '6.12.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '6.18.40', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '6.18.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '7.1.5', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '7.1.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '7.2-rc1', 'versionType': 'original_commit_for_fix', 'lessThanOrEqual': '*'}], 'programFiles': ['arch/loongarch/include/asm/pgtable.h'], 'defaultStatus': 'affected'}] [{'repo': 'https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git', 'vendor': 'Linux', 'product': 'Linux', 'versions': [{'status': 'affected', 'version': '09cfefb7fa70c3af011b0db0a513fd80b2f18abc', 'lessThan': '76f88650763a35cbf1384c65d66d096fa31cc58d', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': '09cfefb7fa70c3af011b0db0a513fd80b2f18abc', 'lessThan': 'e8a916579e427af32f2de8213dfa23c5df6e6664', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': '09cfefb7fa70c3af011b0db0a513fd80b2f18abc', 'lessThan': '39bb21a4bff0d70058bf752d7b5aa2e2ccc864a9', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': '09cfefb7fa70c3af011b0db0a513fd80b2f18abc', 'lessThan': 'a65f49b6f7ece756394f8f0e85570020e7fd0e35', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': '09cfefb7fa70c3af011b0db0a513fd80b2f18abc', 'lessThan': 'e483da960892c41fa7f0cf0d2fc2410d65a483d6', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': '09cfefb7fa70c3af011b0db0a513fd80b2f18abc', 'lessThan': '018e9828eb523c638fa3d9bdf0fd4956b74555b2', 'versionType': 'git'}], 'programFiles': ['arch/loongarch/include/asm/pgtable.h'], 'defaultStatus': 'unaffected'}, {'repo': 'https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git', 'vendor': 'Linux', 'product': 'Linux', 'versions': [{'status': 'affected', 'version': '5.19'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '0', 'lessThan': '5.19', 'versionType': 'semver'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '6.1.178', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '6.1.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '6.6.145', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '6.6.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '6.12.97', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '6.12.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '6.18.40', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '6.18.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '7.1.5', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '7.1.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '7.2', 'versionType': 'original_commit_for_fix', 'lessThanOrEqual': '*'}], 'programFiles': ['arch/loongarch/include/asm/pgtable.h'], 'defaultStatus': 'affected'}]
  • New CVE Received by 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

    Aug. 15, 2026

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added Affected [{'repo': 'https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git', 'vendor': 'Linux', 'product': 'Linux', 'versions': [{'status': 'affected', 'version': '09cfefb7fa70c3af011b0db0a513fd80b2f18abc', 'lessThan': '76f88650763a35cbf1384c65d66d096fa31cc58d', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': '09cfefb7fa70c3af011b0db0a513fd80b2f18abc', 'lessThan': 'e8a916579e427af32f2de8213dfa23c5df6e6664', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': '09cfefb7fa70c3af011b0db0a513fd80b2f18abc', 'lessThan': '39bb21a4bff0d70058bf752d7b5aa2e2ccc864a9', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': '09cfefb7fa70c3af011b0db0a513fd80b2f18abc', 'lessThan': 'a65f49b6f7ece756394f8f0e85570020e7fd0e35', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': '09cfefb7fa70c3af011b0db0a513fd80b2f18abc', 'lessThan': 'e483da960892c41fa7f0cf0d2fc2410d65a483d6', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': '09cfefb7fa70c3af011b0db0a513fd80b2f18abc', 'lessThan': '018e9828eb523c638fa3d9bdf0fd4956b74555b2', 'versionType': 'git'}], 'programFiles': ['arch/loongarch/include/asm/pgtable.h'], 'defaultStatus': 'unaffected'}, {'repo': 'https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git', 'vendor': 'Linux', 'product': 'Linux', 'versions': [{'status': 'affected', 'version': '5.19'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '0', 'lessThan': '5.19', 'versionType': 'semver'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '6.1.178', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '6.1.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '6.6.145', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '6.6.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '6.12.97', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '6.12.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '6.18.40', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '6.18.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '7.1.5', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '7.1.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '7.2-rc1', 'versionType': 'original_commit_for_fix', 'lessThanOrEqual': '*'}], 'programFiles': ['arch/loongarch/include/asm/pgtable.h'], 'defaultStatus': 'affected'}]
    Added Description In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: LoongArch: Fix missing dirty page tracking in {pte,pmd}_wrprotect() When hardware page table walker (PTW) is enabled on LoongArch, the CPU may set _PAGE_DIRTY directly in the page table entry during a write TLB miss, without going through the software TLB store handler. The software TLB store handler (tlbex.S:254) sets both _PAGE_DIRTY and_PAGE_MODIFIED together: ori t0, t0, (_PAGE_VALID | _PAGE_DIRTY | _PAGE_MODIFIED) Since hardware PTW only sets _PAGE_DIRTY, the software-only bit, i.e. _PAGE_MODIFIED is left unchanged. This creates a window where a PTE has _PAGE_DIRTY set (hardware knows the page is dirty) but _PAGE_MODIFIED clear (software is unaware). When fork()/clone() triggers copy-on-write, __copy_present_ptes() calls pte_wrprotect(), which unconditionally clears both the _PAGE_WRITE and _PAGE_DIRTY bits: pte_val(pte) &= ~(_PAGE_WRITE | _PAGE_DIRTY); Since _PAGE_MODIFIED was never set, the dirtiness information is lost completely. Subsequently, when memory pressure triggers page reclaim, page_mkclean() / try_to_unmap() sees the page as clean (i.e. pte_dirty() returns false) and the page may be freed without writeback, causing data corruption. Fix this by propagating the _PAGE_DIRTY bit to the _PAGE_MODIFIED bit in both pte_wrprotect() and pmd_wrprotect() before clearing writeable bits: if (pte_val(pte) & _PAGE_DIRTY) pte_val(pte) |= _PAGE_MODIFIED; The pmd_wrprotect() fix handles the CONFIG_TRANSPARENT_HUGEPAGE case, where pmd entries need the same treatment. This ensures the software dirty tracking bit (checked by pte_dirty() and pmd_dirty(), which read both the _PAGE_DIRTY and _PAGE_MODIFIED bits) is preserved across fork COW write-protection. The issue was found by the LTP madvise09 test case, which exercises page reclaim after "madvise(MADV_FREE), write and fork" operation sequence on private anonymous mappings.
    Added Reference https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/018e9828eb523c638fa3d9bdf0fd4956b74555b2
    Added Reference https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/39bb21a4bff0d70058bf752d7b5aa2e2ccc864a9
    Added Reference https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/76f88650763a35cbf1384c65d66d096fa31cc58d
    Added Reference https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a65f49b6f7ece756394f8f0e85570020e7fd0e35
    Added Reference https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e483da960892c41fa7f0cf0d2fc2410d65a483d6
    Added Reference https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e8a916579e427af32f2de8213dfa23c5df6e6664
EPSS is a daily estimate of the probability of exploitation activity being observed over the next 30 days. Following chart shows the EPSS score history of the vulnerability.