Kernel panic via poisoned THP re-read
Published Dec 4, 2025 · Updated May 11, 2026
Denial of service in the Linux kernel memory-failure path allows attackers to panic an x86 server while splitting a poisoned THP. During memory_failure(), try_to_map_unused_to_zeropage() calls memchr_inv() while scanning the huge page and re-reads the already poisoned page, causing a second in-kernel machine check. Reachability requires a hardware-poisoned transparent huge page mapped to userspace; the second machine check crashes the host instead of terminating only the affected process.
Summary
What happened
Denial of service in the Linux kernel memory-failure path allows attackers to panic an x86 server while splitting a poisoned THP. During memory_failure(), try_to_map_unused_to_zeropage() calls memchr_inv() while scanning the huge page and re-reads the already poisoned page, causing a second in-kernel machine check. Reachability requires a hardware-poisoned transparent huge page mapped to userspace; the second machine check crashes the host instead of terminating only the affected process.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2025-40230
- Published
- Dec 4, 2025
- Updated
- May 11, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- T1499.004
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- Unavailable
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Dec 4, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- May 11, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
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- Affected versionversion=6.12
- Affected versionversion=b1f202060afeb7fcb98473929d26fd3d2093b067 <6fc0a7c99e973a50018c8b4be34914a1b5c7b383
- Affected versionversion=b1f202060afeb7fcb98473929d26fd3d2093b067 <841a8bfcbad94bb1ba60f59ce34f75259074ae0d
- Affected versionversion=b1f202060afeb7fcb98473929d26fd3d2093b067 <92acf4b04f255d2f0f6770bb0d0a208d8ffb2b77
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Attacks
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