In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
mm: fix zswap writeback race condition
The zswap writeback mechanism can cause a race condition resulting in
memory corruption, where a swapped out page gets swapped in with data that
was written to a different page.
The race unfolds like this:
- a page with data A and swap offset X is stored in zswap
- page A is removed off the LRU by zpool driver for writeback in
zswap-shrink work, data for A is mapped by zpool driver
- user space program faults and invalidates page entry A, offset X is
considered free
- kswapd stores page B at offset X in zswap (zswap could also be
full, if so, page B would then be IOed to X, then skip step 5.)
- entry A is replaced by B in tree->rbroot, this doesn't affect the
local reference held by zswap-shrink work
- zswap-shrink work writes back A at X, and frees zswap entry A
- swapin of slot X brings A in memory instead of B
The fix:
Once the swap page cache has been allocated (case ZSWAP_SWAPCACHE_NEW),
zswap-shrink work just checks that the local zswap_entry reference is
still the same as the one in the tree. If it's not the same it means that
it's either been invalidated or replaced, in both cases the writeback is
aborted because the local entry contains stale data.
Reproducer:
I originally found this by running stress overnight to validate my work
on the zswap writeback mechanism, it manifested after hours on my test
machine. The key to make it happen is having zswap writebacks, so
whatever setup pumps /sys/kernel/debug/zswap/written_back_pages should do
the trick.
In order to reproduce this faster on a vm, I setup a system with ~100M of
available memory and a 500M swap file, then running stress --vm 1
--vm-bytes 300000000 --vm-stride 4000 makes it happen in matter of tens
of minutes. One can speed things up even more by swinging
/sys/module/zswap/parameters/max_pool_percent up and down between, say, 20
and 1; this makes it reproduce in tens of seconds. It's crucial to set
--vm-stride to something other than 4096 otherwise stress won't
realize that memory has been corrupted because all pages would have the
same data.
What the EG score is made of (scorer v4.0: the three questions the 0–10 score mixes, published apart · methodology)
The EG score (4.7): severity, escalated by confirmed exploitation. This CVE's 4.7 is its impact severity (EG Severity), not escalated.
- EG Severity
- 4.7 MEDIUMCVSS-B, impact only: no KEV listing, EPSS or EG-KEV tier raises it.GitHub Security Advisory CVSS
- EG Likelihood
- 0.1% within 30 daysSource: FIRST EPSS (model v2026.06.15, score date 2026-10-17). FIRST's exploitation probability, not an EchelonGraph model.
- Confirmed exploitation
- None on record (CISA KEV, EG-KEV Tier 1)Reported apart from the likelihood: an observed fact, not a probability.
- EG Priority
- SSVC Track at medium mission impactTrack at every mission impact level.CISA BOD 26-04: 60 days if the affected system is publicly exposed; Fix on system upgrade if it is not.Each input and its source: the SSVC and BOD 26-04 blocks below.
SSVC (CISA's decision table, applied by EchelonGraph)Track at every mission impact level.
A fix is available. Apply it within your standard update timelines.
Exploitation none (CISA Vulnrichment) · Automatable no (CISA Vulnrichment) · Technical impact partial (CISA Vulnrichment). All three are CISA's SSVC values (Vulnrichment). EchelonGraph applied CISA's decision table to them; CISA publishes SSVC inputs and the table, not a decision for each CVE. Mission impact is CISA's Mission & Well-being decision point, and only you can judge it. CISA's table makes it high when Mission Prevalence is Essential — the vulnerable component "directly provides capabilities that constitute at least one MEF for at least one entity" (MEF: mission essential function) — or when Public Well-Being Impact is Irreversible: "multiple fatalities are likely", the cyber-physical system "is likely lost or destroyed", "extreme or serious externalities" are imposed on other parties, or social systems such as elections or the financial grid "are destabilized and potentially collapse". CISA's decision table
BOD 26-04 (CISA's remediation timeline, Table 1)60 days if the affected system is publicly exposed; Fix on system upgrade if it is not.
In CISA KEV no (CISA's KEV catalog) · Automatable no (CISA Vulnrichment) · Technical impact partial (CISA Vulnrichment). Whether your system is publicly exposed is yours to answer. BOD 26-04 binds US Federal Civilian Executive Branch agencies; for anyone else it is CISA's published timeline, a reference rather than an obligation. The directive · how EchelonGraph applies it