userfaultfd: prevent registration of special VMAs
Vova Tokarev says:
userfaultfd allows registration on shadow stack VMAs. With userfaultfd
access, you can register on the shadow stack, discard a page ... and
inject a page with chosen return addresses via UFFDIO_COPY.
Update vma_can_userfault() to reject VM_SHADOW_STACK.
While on it, also reject VM_SPECIAL so that if a driver would implement
vm_uffd_ops, it wouldn't be possible to register special VMAs with
userfaultfd.
Since VM_SPECIAL includes VM_DONTEXPAND which is set but hugetlb, exclude
hugetlb VMAs from the check for VM_SPECIAL.
Analysis
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Default status is the baseline for the product, each version can override it (e.g. patched versions marked unaffected).
| Vendor | Product | Default status | Versions | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Linux | Linux | unaffected |
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| Linux | Linux | affected |
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No vendor fix or workaround currently provided.
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Mon, 10 Aug 2026 12:30:00 +0000
| Type | Values Removed | Values Added |
|---|---|---|
| Description | In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: userfaultfd: prevent registration of special VMAs Vova Tokarev says: userfaultfd allows registration on shadow stack VMAs. With userfaultfd access, you can register on the shadow stack, discard a page ... and inject a page with chosen return addresses via UFFDIO_COPY. Update vma_can_userfault() to reject VM_SHADOW_STACK. While on it, also reject VM_SPECIAL so that if a driver would implement vm_uffd_ops, it wouldn't be possible to register special VMAs with userfaultfd. Since VM_SPECIAL includes VM_DONTEXPAND which is set but hugetlb, exclude hugetlb VMAs from the check for VM_SPECIAL. | |
| Title | userfaultfd: prevent registration of special VMAs | |
| First Time appeared |
Linux
Linux linux Kernel |
|
| CPEs | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | |
| Vendors & Products |
Linux
Linux linux Kernel |
|
| References |
|
MITRE
Status: PUBLISHED
Assigner: Linux
Published:
Updated: 2026-08-10T11:59:34.576Z
Reserved: 2026-07-30T09:28:09.372Z
Link: CVE-2026-68166
Vulnrichment
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NVD
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Redhat
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OpenCVE Enrichment
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No weakness.