Huge-page exhaustion via retained folio reference
Published Oct 21, 2024 · Updated May 11, 2026
Resource leak in Linux 6.11 through 6.11.2 allows local users to exhaust free huge pages through memfd-backed page pinning. In mm/gup.c, memfd_pin_folios retains an extra reference from folio_try_get for an unfaulted folio allocated by memfd_alloc_folio, so unpin_folios cannot return the page to the free huge-page pool. A low-privileged local user must exercise huge-page memfd pinning; repeated operations deplete the pool and can interrupt memory-dependent workloads without affecting confidentiality or integrity.
Summary
What happened
Resource leak in Linux 6.11 through 6.11.2 allows local users to exhaust free huge pages through memfd-backed page pinning. In mm/gup.c, memfd_pin_folios retains an extra reference from folio_try_get for an unfaulted folio allocated by memfd_alloc_folio, so unpin_folios cannot return the page to the free huge-page pool. A low-privileged local user must exercise huge-page memfd pinning; repeated operations deplete the pool and can interrupt memory-dependent workloads without affecting confidentiality or integrity.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2024-49964
- Published
- Oct 21, 2024
- Updated
- May 11, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- T1499
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Oct 21, 2024CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- May 11, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=6.11
- Affected versionversion=89c1905d9c140372b7f50ef48f42378cf85d9bc5 <59e081ff2e91bbf19b8c1ecb75b031f778858383
- Affected versionversion=89c1905d9c140372b7f50ef48f42378cf85d9bc5 <c56b6f3d801d7ec8965993342bdd9e2972b6cb8e
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What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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Attacks
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Technologies
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Your stack
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