Kernel crash via anonymous-inode THP collapse
Published Mar 25, 2026 · Updated Mar 25, 2026
Denial of service in the Linux Kernel allows local users to crash the kernel through transparent huge-page collapse. file_thp_enabled() misclassifies guest_memfd and secretmem anonymous inodes as read-only regular files, allowing khugepaged or MADV_COLLAPSE to create unsupported large folios. The path requires CONFIG_READ_ONLY_THP_FOR_FS and local low-privileged access; guest_memfd reaches an unsupported-folio assertion, while upstream secretmem recovers and logs false memory-failure reports.
Summary
What happened
Denial of service in the Linux Kernel allows local users to crash the kernel through transparent huge-page collapse. file_thp_enabled() misclassifies guest_memfd and secretmem anonymous inodes as read-only regular files, allowing khugepaged or MADV_COLLAPSE to create unsupported large folios. The path requires CONFIG_READ_ONLY_THP_FOR_FS and local low-privileged access; guest_memfd reaches an unsupported-folio assertion, while upstream secretmem recovers and logs false memory-failure reports.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-23375
- Published
- Mar 25, 2026
- Updated
- Mar 25, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux Kernel
- Classifications
- CWE-617, T1499
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Mar 25, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Mar 25, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=6.8
- Affected versionversion=7fbb5e188248c50f737720825da1864ce42536d1 <0524ee56af2c9bfbad152a810f1ca95de8ca00d7
- Affected versionversion=7fbb5e188248c50f737720825da1864ce42536d1 <08de46a75f91a6661bc1ce0a93614f4bc313c581
- Affected versionversion=7fbb5e188248c50f737720825da1864ce42536d1 <dd085fe9a8ebfc5d10314c60452db38d2b75e609
- Affected versionversion=7fbb5e188248c50f737720825da1864ce42536d1 <f6fa05f0dddd387417d0c28281ddb951582514d6
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
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Public exploit references
No public exploit references are available in this record.
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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