{
    "dataType": "CVE_RECORD",
    "dataVersion": "5.2",
    "cveMetadata": {
        "cveId": "CVE-2026-79979",
        "assignerOrgId": "e2e69745-5e70-4e92-8431-deb5529a81ad",
        "state": "PUBLISHED",
        "assignerShortName": "zephyr",
        "dateReserved": "2026-08-25T16:06:32.777Z",
        "datePublished": "2026-10-23T19:56:16.111Z",
        "dateUpdated": "2026-10-23T19:56:16.111Z"
    },
    "containers": {
        "cna": {
            "providerMetadata": {
                "orgId": "e2e69745-5e70-4e92-8431-deb5529a81ad",
                "shortName": "zephyr",
                "dateUpdated": "2026-10-23T19:56:16.111Z"
            },
            "title": "Stale TLB entries after demand-paging page-out let arm64 user threads access reused physical frames",
            "descriptions": [
                {
                    "lang": "en",
                    "value": "The arm64 MMU backend invalidates a single virtual address from the TLB with invalidate_tlb_page() in arch/arm64/core/mmu.c, which issued TLBI VAE1{IS} with an operand of virt >> 12. That operand encodes the ASID in bits [63:48], so the invalidation only ever matched ASID 0 (the kernel page tables) and global entries. Memory domains, however, are allocated ASIDs starting at 1 in arch_mem_domain_init(), and every domain-private leaf created by private_map() is mapped with MT_NG, i.e. non-global. A domain's cached translation therefore survived the invalidation.\n\nAll callers of invalidate_tlb_page() are demand-paging paths. When the eviction algorithm reclaims a frame, page_frame_prepare_locked() in kernel/mmu.c calls arch_mem_page_out(), which marks the kernel leaf invalid, propagates the invalid descriptor into every domain via sync_domains(), and then flushes only ASID 0. do_page_fault() immediately reuses the very same page frame for the incoming mapping through arch_mem_page_in(). A user thread that had already touched the evicted page — a k_mem_partition added with arch_mem_domain_partition_add(), or its own stack mapped by map_thread_stack() — retains a valid EL0 read/write translation to that physical frame under its own ASID.\n\nUnprivileged code running in a user thread can drive memory pressure to force eviction and then keep accessing the stale address, obtaining read and write access to whatever the kernel subsequently placed in that frame: supervisor data, another memory domain's partition, or another thread's stack. This defeats the isolation that CONFIG_USERSPACE is meant to enforce, allowing information disclosure and memory corruption up to full compromise of the system.\n\nThe fix switches the implementation to TLBI VAAE1{IS}, which matches every ASID and both global and non-global entries, so no domain-tagged translation survives a page out, dirty-bit update or access-flag clear. Exploitation requires an arm64 build with both CONFIG_USERSPACE and CONFIG_DEMAND_PAGING enabled, an active backing store, and at least one demand-paged page that is also privately mapped into a user memory domain. The same commit additionally stops globalize_table() from stripping EL0 permission and non-global attributes off domain-private leaves during paging synchronization, which previously caused user threads to lose access to their own partitions and stacks."
                }
            ],
            "affected": [
                {
                    "vendor": "zephyrproject",
                    "product": "zephyr",
                    "collectionURL": "https://github.com/zephyrproject-rtos/zephyr",
                    "packageName": "zephyr",
                    "defaultStatus": "unaffected",
                    "programFiles": [
                        "arch/arm64/core/mmu.c"
                    ],
                    "programRoutines": [
                        {
                            "name": "arch_mem_page_out"
                        },
                        {
                            "name": "invalidate_tlb_page"
                        }
                    ],
                    "versions": [
                        {
                            "version": "4.3.0",
                            "status": "affected",
                            "lessThan": "4.5.0",
                            "versionType": "semver"
                        }
                    ]
                }
            ],
            "references": [
                {
                    "url": "https://github.com/zephyrproject-rtos/zephyr/commit/d732e9f808f16911d06769b3f756246f3528669f",
                    "name": "Fix commit",
                    "tags": [
                        "patch"
                    ]
                },
                {
                    "url": "https://github.com/zephyrproject-rtos/zephyr/security/advisories/GHSA-6pqm-hfxf-48qv",
                    "name": "GHSA-6pqm-hfxf-48qv"
                }
            ],
            "metrics": [
                {
                    "format": "CVSS",
                    "cvssV3_1": {
                        "version": "3.1",
                        "vectorString": "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H",
                        "baseScore": 7.8,
                        "baseSeverity": "HIGH"
                    }
                }
            ],
            "problemTypes": [
                {
                    "descriptions": [
                        {
                            "lang": "en",
                            "description": "use-after-free",
                            "cweId": "CWE-416",
                            "type": "CWE"
                        }
                    ]
                }
            ],
            "x_generator": {
                "engine": "cvelib 1.8.0"
            }
        }
    }
}