Re: [RFC PATCH] mm/page_alloc: fix use-after-free in swap due to stale page data after split_page()

From: Mikhail Gavrilov

Date: Fri Jan 30 2026 - 09:17:01 EST


On Fri, Jan 30, 2026 at 6:59 PM Matthew Wilcox <willy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> Why add a second loop instead of using the existing one?

You're right, no good reason for a separate loop.
Here's v2:

diff --git a/mm/page_alloc.c b/mm/page_alloc.c
index cbf758e27aa2..306493d76ea4 100644
--- a/mm/page_alloc.c
+++ b/mm/page_alloc.c
@@ -3122,8 +3122,17 @@ void split_page(struct page *page, unsigned int order)
VM_BUG_ON_PAGE(PageCompound(page), page);
VM_BUG_ON_PAGE(!page_count(page), page);

- for (i = 1; i < (1 << order); i++)
+ /*
+ * Split pages may contain stale data from previous use. Initialize
+ * page->private and page->lru which may have LIST_POISON values.
+ */
+ INIT_LIST_HEAD(&page->lru);
+ for (i = 1; i < (1 << order); i++) {
set_page_refcounted(page + i);
+ set_page_private(page + i, 0);
+ INIT_LIST_HEAD(&page[i].lru);
+ }
+
split_page_owner(page, order, 0);
pgalloc_tag_split(page_folio(page), order, 0);
split_page_memcg(page, order);


Should I send a formal v2 patch?

--
Best Regards,
Mike Gavrilov.