CVE-2024-50263

Name of the Vulnerable Software and Affected Versions: Linux kernel versions prior to 6.11.6

Description: The issue concerns the Linux kernel's handling of memory management during the fork operation. Specifically, the kernel invokes khugepaged and KSM hooks early in the dup mmap function, even when the memory map is in an incomplete state. This could potentially lead to issues under dire memory pressure. The change in commit d24062914837 makes this more pertinent, as entries in the maple tree may not be consistent. To address this, the ksm fork function is made a void function, and the mm is only exposed to these functions once the fork operation is complete and no error has occurred.

Recommendations: For Linux kernel versions prior to 6.11.6, upgrade to version 6.11.6 or later to resolve the issue. As a temporary workaround, consider restricting the use of the fork operation under low memory conditions to minimize the risk of exploitation.