CVE-2022-49554

zsmalloc: fix races between asynchronous zspage free and page migration

Published Feb 26, 2025 CVSS 3.1 · 7.8 High EPSS < 1% KEV · Not listed
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

zsmalloc: fix races between asynchronous zspage free and page migration

The asynchronous zspage free worker tries to lock a zspage's entire page
list without defending against page migration. Since pages which haven't
yet been locked can concurrently migrate off the zspage page list while
lock_zspage() churns away, lock_zspage() can suffer from a few different
lethal races.

It can lock a page which no longer belongs to the zspage and unsafely
dereference page_private(), it can unsafely dereference a torn pointer to
the next page (since there's a data race), and it can observe a spurious
NULL pointer to the next page and thus not lock all of the zspage's pages
(since a single page migration will reconstruct the entire page list, and
create_page_chain() unconditionally zeroes out each list pointer in the
process).

Fix the races by using migrate_read_lock() in lock_zspage() to synchronize
with page migration.

Remediation

No solution or workaround provided in the CVE record

Tracking

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Advisories

Source ID Title
EUVD EUVD EUVD-2022-54678 In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: zsmalloc: fix races between asynchronous zspage free and page migration The asynchronous zspage free worker tries to lock a zspage's entire page list without defending against page migration. Since pages which haven't yet been locked can concurrently migrate off the zspage page list while lock_zspage() churns away, lock_zspage() can suffer from a few different lethal races. It can lock a page which no longer belongs to the zspage and unsafely dereference page_private(), it can unsafely dereference a torn pointer to the next page (since there's a data race), and it can observe a spurious NULL pointer to the next page and thus not lock all of the zspage's pages (since a single page migration will reconstruct the entire page list, and create_page_chain() unconditionally zeroes out each list pointer in the process). Fix the races by using migrate_read_lock() in lock_zspage() to synchronize with page migration.
History
Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'no', 'Exploitation': 'none', 'Technical Impact': 'total'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}

Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 4.7, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H'}

cvssV3_1

{'score': 7.8, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H'}

Type Values Removed Values Added
Weaknesses CWE-362
CPEs cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 5.5, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H'}

cvssV3_1

{'score': 4.7, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H'}

Type Values Removed Values Added
References
Metrics threat_severity

None

cvssV3_1

{'score': 5.5, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H'}

threat_severity

Low

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: zsmalloc: fix races between asynchronous zspage free and page migration The asynchronous zspage free worker tries to lock a zspage's entire page list without defending against page migration. Since pages which haven't yet been locked can concurrently migrate off the zspage page list while lock_zspage() churns away, lock_zspage() can suffer from a few different lethal races. It can lock a page which no longer belongs to the zspage and unsafely dereference page_private(), it can unsafely dereference a torn pointer to the next page (since there's a data race), and it can observe a spurious NULL pointer to the next page and thus not lock all of the zspage's pages (since a single page migration will reconstruct the entire page list, and create_page_chain() unconditionally zeroes out each list pointer in the process). Fix the races by using migrate_read_lock() in lock_zspage() to synchronize with page migration.
Title zsmalloc: fix races between asynchronous zspage free and page migration
References
Weaknesses

Sources

Status
PUBLISHED
Assigner
Linux
Published
Updated
Oct 15, 2026, 9:21 PM
Reserved
Feb 26, 2025, 2:08 AM
Status
Modified
Published
Feb 26, 2025, 7:01 AM
Modified
Oct 15, 2026, 10:17 PM
Severity
Low
Public date
Feb 26, 2025, 12:00 AM