In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

mm, shmem: prevent infinite loop on truncate race

When truncating a large swap entry, shmem_free_swap() returns 0 when the
entry's index doesn't match the given index due to lookup alignment. The
failure fallback path checks if the entry crosses the end border and
aborts when it happens, so truncate won't erase an unexpected entry or
range. But one scenario was ignored.

When `index` points to the middle of a large swap entry, and the large
swap entry doesn't go across the end border, find_get_entries() will
return that large swap entry as the first item in the batch with
`indices[0]` equal to `index`. The entry's base index will be smaller
than `indices[0]`, so shmem_free_swap() will fail and return 0 due to the
"base < index" check. The code will then call shmem_confirm_swap(), get
the order, check if it crosses the END boundary (which it doesn't), and
retry with the same index.

The next iteration will find the same entry again at the same index with
same indices, leading to an infinite loop.

Fix this by retrying with a round-down index, and abort if the index is
smaller than the truncate range.
Advisories

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Fixes

Solution

No solution given by the vendor.


Workaround

No workaround given by the vendor.

History

Sat, 14 Feb 2026 16:45:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mm, shmem: prevent infinite loop on truncate race When truncating a large swap entry, shmem_free_swap() returns 0 when the entry's index doesn't match the given index due to lookup alignment. The failure fallback path checks if the entry crosses the end border and aborts when it happens, so truncate won't erase an unexpected entry or range. But one scenario was ignored. When `index` points to the middle of a large swap entry, and the large swap entry doesn't go across the end border, find_get_entries() will return that large swap entry as the first item in the batch with `indices[0]` equal to `index`. The entry's base index will be smaller than `indices[0]`, so shmem_free_swap() will fail and return 0 due to the "base < index" check. The code will then call shmem_confirm_swap(), get the order, check if it crosses the END boundary (which it doesn't), and retry with the same index. The next iteration will find the same entry again at the same index with same indices, leading to an infinite loop. Fix this by retrying with a round-down index, and abort if the index is smaller than the truncate range.
Title mm, shmem: prevent infinite loop on truncate race
First Time appeared Linux
Linux linux Kernel
CPEs cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
Vendors & Products Linux
Linux linux Kernel
References

Projects

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cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: Linux

Published:

Updated: 2026-02-14T16:27:09.429Z

Reserved: 2026-01-13T15:37:45.983Z

Link: CVE-2026-23177

cve-icon Vulnrichment

No data.

cve-icon NVD

Status : Received

Published: 2026-02-14T17:15:55.430

Modified: 2026-02-14T17:15:55.430

Link: CVE-2026-23177

cve-icon Redhat

No data.

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

No data.

Weaknesses

No weakness.