+ mm-vma-only-permit-map_private-dev-zero-to-be-mapped-anonymous.patch added to mm-new branch

+ mm-vma-only-permit-map_private-dev-zero-to-be-mapped-anonymous.patch added to mm-new branch

[Andrew Morton]

The patch titled
     Subject: mm/vma: only permit MAP_PRIVATE /dev/zero to be mapped anonymous
has been added to the -mm mm-new branch.  Its filename is
     mm-vma-only-permit-map_private-dev-zero-to-be-mapped-anonymous.patch

This patch will shortly appear at
     https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/akpm/25-new.git/tree/patches/mm-vma-only-permit-map_private-dev-zero-to-be-mapped-anonymous.patch

This patch will later appear in the mm-new branch at
    git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/akpm/mm

Note, mm-new is a provisional staging ground for work-in-progress
patches, and acceptance into mm-new is a notification for others take
notice and to finish up reviews.  Please do not hesitate to respond to
review feedback and post updated versions to replace or incrementally
fixup patches in mm-new.

The mm-new branch of mm.git is not included in linux-next

If a few days of testing in mm-new is successful, the patch will me moved
into mm.git's mm-unstable branch, which is included in linux-next

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   a) Consider who else should be cc'ed
   b) Prefer to cc a suitable mailing list as well
   c) Ideally: find the original patch on the mailing list and do a
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*** Remember to use Documentation/process/submit-checklist.rst when testing your code ***

The -mm tree is included into linux-next via various
branches at git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/akpm/mm
and is updated there most days

------------------------------------------------------
From: "Lorenzo Stoakes (ARM)" <ljs@kernel.org>
Subject: mm/vma: only permit MAP_PRIVATE /dev/zero to be mapped anonymous
Date: Mon, 20 Jul 2026 15:38:38 +0100

In order to use mmap_prepare() with MAP_PRIVATE mappings of /dev/zero
without the success_hook hack we explicitly permitted mmap_prepare
handlers to set NULL vm_ops.

However this is dangerous and we really only want to allow this for
MAP_PRIVATE-mapped /dev/zero.

Make it possible to explicitly identify /dev/zero by setting a global
DEVZERO_MINOR device minor number then explicitly check for this in mmap
code for a MAP_PRIVATE mapping and only set the VMA anonymous if we have
positively identified it.

Then remove all ability for mmap_prepare or mmap hooks to set a VMA
anonymous and update mmap_zero_prepare() to leave it to the core mmap code
to mark the VMA anonymous.

Note that this disallows nested MAP_PRIVATE-mappings of /dev/zero regions.
Doing this would be broken in any case.

We therefore do not need to update the mmap_prepare() compatibility layer
to reflect these changes, as the mmap hook check suffices to disallow this
behaviour.

Now we're setting vma->vm_ops to NULL for an mmap_prepare-initialised
MAP_PRIVATE-/dev/zero mapping, we have to avoid a subtle issue when
updating user-defined fields via set_vma_user_defined_fields().

The default for vma->vm_ops for all mmap_prepare-initialised mappings is
vma_dummy_vm_ops, so map->vm_ops will be set to this and setting
vma->vm_ops to this will render the VMA mistakenly non-anon.

In general, we should never be setting user-defined fields for an
anonymous VMA, so explicitly check for this to avoid doing so for the one
case where a mapping can be both mmap_prepare and anonymous.

Also, in order to avoid a single commit bisection hazard, add a temporary
workaround to set the VMA anonymous only after vma->vm_file is assigned in
__mmap_new_file_vma().

This is because vma_set_range() calls vma_set_pgoff() and
assert_sane_pgoff() in turn, prior to the vma->vm_file being assigned.  If
we set the VMA anonymous early then this assert will fail.

This is removed in the subsequent commit.

Also update the VMA userland tests to reflect the change.

Link: https://lore.kernel.org/20260720-b4-scalable-cow-virt-pgoff-v2-12-2d549757a76f@kernel.org
Signed-off-by: Lorenzo Stoakes (ARM) <ljs@kernel.org>
Cc: Alistair Popple <apopple@nvidia.com>
Cc: Arnd Bergmann <arnd@arndb.de>
Cc: Baolin Wang <baolin.wang@linux.alibaba.com>
Cc: Barry Song <baohua@kernel.org>
Cc: Byungchul Park <byungchul@sk.com>
Cc: Chengming Zhou <chengming.zhou@linux.dev>
Cc: David Hildenbrand <david@kernel.org>
Cc: Dev Jain <dev.jain@arm.com>
Cc: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org>
Cc: Gregory Price <gourry@gourry.net>
Cc: Harry Yoo <harry@kernel.org>
Cc: "Huang, Ying" <ying.huang@linux.alibaba.com>
Cc: Jan Kara <jack@suse.cz>
Cc: Jann Horn <jannh@google.com>
Cc: Joshua Hahn <joshua.hahnjy@gmail.com>
Cc: Kees Cook <kees@kernel.org>
Cc: Lance Yang <lance.yang@linux.dev>
Cc: Liam R. Howlett <liam@infradead.org>
Cc: Matthew Brost <matthew.brost@intel.com>
Cc: Matthew Wilcox (Oracle) <willy@infradead.org>
Cc: Miaohe Lin <linmiaohe@huawei.com>
Cc: Michal Hocko <mhocko@suse.com>
Cc: Mike Rapoport <rppt@kernel.org>
Cc: Naoya Horiguchi <nao.horiguchi@gmail.com>
Cc: Nico Pache <npache@redhat.com>
Cc: Pedro Falcato <pfalcato@suse.de>
Cc: Peter Xu <peterx@redhat.com>
Cc: Rakie Kim <rakie.kim@sk.com>
Cc: Rik van Riel <riel@surriel.com>
Cc: Ryan Roberts <ryan.roberts@arm.com>
Cc: Suren Baghdasaryan <surenb@google.com>
Cc: Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@kernel.org>
Cc: xu xin <xu.xin16@zte.com.cn>
Cc: Zi Yan <ziy@nvidia.com>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
---

 drivers/char/mem.c              |    8 +----
 include/linux/mm.h              |    3 ++
 mm/internal.h                   |    4 ++
 mm/vma.c                        |   43 ++++++++++++++++++++++++------
 mm/vma_internal.h               |    1 
 tools/testing/vma/include/dup.h |   36 +++++++++++++++++++++++++
 6 files changed, 81 insertions(+), 14 deletions(-)

--- a/drivers/char/mem.c~mm-vma-only-permit-map_private-dev-zero-to-be-mapped-anonymous
+++ a/drivers/char/mem.c
@@ -506,11 +506,7 @@ static int mmap_zero_prepare(struct vm_a
 	if (vma_desc_test(desc, VMA_SHARED_BIT))
 		return shmem_zero_setup_desc(desc);
 
-	/*
-	 * This is a highly unique situation where we mark a MAP_PRIVATE mapping
-	 * of /dev/zero anonymous, despite it not being.
-	 */
-	vma_desc_set_anonymous(desc);
+	/* MAP_PRIVATE semantics are taken care for us by core mm. */
 	return 0;
 }
 
@@ -698,7 +694,7 @@ static const struct memdev {
 #ifdef CONFIG_DEVPORT
 	[4] = { "port", &port_fops, 0, 0 },
 #endif
-	[5] = { "zero", &zero_fops, FMODE_NOWAIT, 0666 },
+	[DEVZERO_MINOR] = { "zero", &zero_fops, FMODE_NOWAIT, 0666 },
 	[7] = { "full", &full_fops, 0, 0666 },
 	[8] = { "random", &random_fops, FMODE_NOWAIT, 0666 },
 	[9] = { "urandom", &urandom_fops, FMODE_NOWAIT, 0666 },
--- a/include/linux/mm.h~mm-vma-only-permit-map_private-dev-zero-to-be-mapped-anonymous
+++ a/include/linux/mm.h
@@ -740,6 +740,9 @@ static inline bool fault_flag_allow_retr
 	{ FAULT_FLAG_INTERRUPTIBLE,	"INTERRUPTIBLE" }, \
 	{ FAULT_FLAG_VMA_LOCK,		"VMA_LOCK" }
 
+/* /dev/zero minor device number. Special due to MAP_PRIVATE semantics. */
+#define DEVZERO_MINOR	5
+
 /*
  * vm_fault is filled by the pagefault handler and passed to the vma's
  * ->fault function. The vma's ->fault is responsible for returning a bitmask
--- a/mm/internal.h~mm-vma-only-permit-map_private-dev-zero-to-be-mapped-anonymous
+++ a/mm/internal.h
@@ -240,6 +240,10 @@ static inline int mmap_file(struct file
 {
 	int err = vfs_mmap(file, vma);
 
+	/* Hooks cannot mark themselves anonymous. */
+	if (WARN_ON_ONCE(vma_is_anonymous(vma)))
+		err = -EINVAL;
+
 	if (likely(!err))
 		return 0;
 
--- a/mm/vma.c~mm-vma-only-permit-map_private-dev-zero-to-be-mapped-anonymous
+++ a/mm/vma.c
@@ -2612,6 +2612,29 @@ static int __mmap_new_file_vma(struct mm
 	return 0;
 }
 
+static bool map_is_dev_zero(const struct mmap_state *map)
+{
+	const struct file *file = map->file;
+	const struct inode *inode = file_inode(file);
+
+	if (!S_ISCHR(inode->i_mode))
+		return false;
+	return imajor(inode) == MEM_MAJOR && iminor(inode) == DEVZERO_MINOR;
+}
+
+static bool map_is_private(const struct mmap_state *map)
+{
+	return !vma_flags_test(&map->vma_flags, VMA_SHARED_BIT);
+}
+
+static bool map_is_anon(const struct mmap_state *map)
+{
+	if (!map_is_private(map))
+		return false;
+
+	return !map->file || map_is_dev_zero(map);
+}
+
 /*
  * __mmap_new_vma() - Allocate a new VMA for the region, as merging was not
  * possible.
@@ -2625,8 +2648,7 @@ static int __mmap_new_file_vma(struct mm
 static int __mmap_new_vma(struct mmap_state *map, struct vm_area_struct **vmap,
 	struct mmap_action *action)
 {
-	const bool is_anon = !map->file &&
-		!vma_flags_test(&map->vma_flags, VMA_SHARED_BIT);
+	const bool is_anon = map_is_anon(map);
 	struct vma_iterator *vmi = map->vmi;
 	int error = 0;
 	struct vm_area_struct *vma;
@@ -2642,7 +2664,7 @@ static int __mmap_new_vma(struct mmap_st
 
 	vma_iter_config(vmi, map->addr, map->end);
 
-	if (is_anon)
+	if (is_anon && !map->file)
 		vma_set_anonymous(vma);
 
 	vma_set_range(vma, map->addr, map->end, map->pgoff, map->virt_pgoff);
@@ -2660,6 +2682,10 @@ static int __mmap_new_vma(struct mmap_st
 	else if (!is_anon)
 		error = shmem_zero_setup(vma);
 
+	/* Temporary MAP_PRIVATE-/dev/zero workaround. */
+	if (is_anon && map->file)
+		vma_set_anonymous(vma);
+
 	if (error)
 		goto free_iter_vma;
 
@@ -2768,6 +2794,10 @@ static int call_mmap_prepare(struct mmap
 	if (err)
 		return err;
 
+	/* Hooks cannot mark themselves anonymous. */
+	if (!desc->vm_ops)
+		return -EINVAL;
+
 	err = call_action_prepare(map, desc);
 	if (err)
 		return err;
@@ -2790,10 +2820,7 @@ static int call_mmap_prepare(struct mmap
 static void set_vma_user_defined_fields(struct vm_area_struct *vma,
 		struct mmap_state *map)
 {
-	if (map->vm_ops)
-		vma->vm_ops = map->vm_ops;
-	else	/* Only /dev/zero should do this. */
-		vma_set_anonymous(vma);
+	vma->vm_ops = map->vm_ops;
 	vma->vm_private_data = map->vm_private_data;
 }
 
@@ -2873,7 +2900,7 @@ static unsigned long __mmap_region(struc
 		allocated_new = true;
 	}
 
-	if (have_mmap_prepare)
+	if (have_mmap_prepare && !map_is_anon(&map))
 		set_vma_user_defined_fields(vma, &map);
 
 	__mmap_complete(&map, vma);
--- a/mm/vma_internal.h~mm-vma-only-permit-map_private-dev-zero-to-be-mapped-anonymous
+++ a/mm/vma_internal.h
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 #include <linux/ksm.h>
 #include <linux/khugepaged.h>
 #include <linux/list.h>
+#include <linux/major.h>
 #include <linux/maple_tree.h>
 #include <linux/mempolicy.h>
 #include <linux/mm.h>
--- a/tools/testing/vma/include/dup.h~mm-vma-only-permit-map_private-dev-zero-to-be-mapped-anonymous
+++ a/tools/testing/vma/include/dup.h
@@ -15,6 +15,20 @@ struct task_struct *get_current(void);
 #define MMF_HAS_MDWE	28
 #define current get_current()
 
+#define MINORBITS	20
+#define MINORMASK	((1U << MINORBITS) - 1)
+
+#define MAJOR(dev)	((unsigned int) ((dev) >> MINORBITS))
+#define MINOR(dev)	((unsigned int) ((dev) & MINORMASK))
+
+#define S_IFMT  00170000
+#define S_IFCHR  0020000
+
+#define S_ISCHR(m)	(((m) & S_IFMT) == S_IFCHR)
+
+#define MEM_MAJOR		1
+#define DEVZERO_MINOR	5
+
 /*
  * Define the task command name length as enum, then it can be visible to
  * BPF programs.
@@ -23,6 +37,8 @@ enum {
 	TASK_COMM_LEN = 16,
 };
 
+typedef unsigned short		umode_t;
+
 /* PARTIALLY implemented types. */
 struct mm_struct {
 	struct maple_tree mm_mt;
@@ -45,6 +61,10 @@ struct address_space {
 	unsigned long		flags;
 	atomic_t		i_mmap_writable;
 };
+struct inode {
+	umode_t			i_mode;
+	dev_t			i_rdev;
+};
 struct file_operations {
 	int (*mmap)(struct file *, struct vm_area_struct *);
 	int (*mmap_prepare)(struct vm_area_desc *);
@@ -52,6 +72,7 @@ struct file_operations {
 struct file {
 	struct address_space	*f_mapping;
 	const struct file_operations	*f_op;
+	struct inode			*f_inode;
 };
 struct anon_vma_chain {
 	struct anon_vma *anon_vma;
@@ -1631,3 +1652,18 @@ static inline pgoff_t linear_virt_page_i
 
 	return pgoff;
 }
+
+static inline struct inode *file_inode(const struct file *f)
+{
+	return f->f_inode;
+}
+
+static inline unsigned iminor(const struct inode *inode)
+{
+	return MINOR(inode->i_rdev);
+}
+
+static inline unsigned imajor(const struct inode *inode)
+{
+	return MAJOR(inode->i_rdev);
+}
_

Patches currently in -mm which might be from ljs@kernel.org are

mm-vmalloc-acquire-init_mm-lock-on-huge-vmap-to-avoid-ptdump-uaf.patch
x86-mm-pat-acquire-init_mm-write-lock-on-collapse-to-avoid-uaf.patch
x86-mm-pat-acquire-init_mm-read-lock-on-attribute-change-to-avoid-uaf.patch
mm-ptdump-always-stabilise-against-page-table-freeing-using-init_mm.patch
arm64-remove-redundant-concurrent-ptdump-uaf-mitigation.patch
mm-move-alloc-tag-to-mm.patch
mm-move-vma_start_pgoff-into-mmh-and-clean-up.patch
mm-add-kdoc-comments-for-vma_start-last_pgoff.patch
tools-testing-vma-use-vma_start_pgoff-in-merge-tests.patch
mm-introduce-and-use-vma_end_pgoff.patch
mm-rmap-update-mm-interval_treec-comments.patch
mm-rmap-parameterise-vma_interval_tree_-by-address_space.patch
mm-rmap-elide-unnecessary-static-inlines-in-interval_treec.patch
mm-rmap-rename-vma_interval_tree_-to-mapping_rmap_tree_.patch
mm-rmap-parameterise-anon_vma_interval_tree_-by-anon_vma.patch
mm-rmap-rename-anon_vma_interval_tree_-params-and-use-pgoff_t.patch
mm-rmap-rename-anon_vma_interval_tree_-to-anon_rmap_tree_.patch
maintainers-move-mm-interval_treec-to-rmap-section.patch
mm-vma-introduce-and-use-vmg_pages-vmg__pgoff.patch
mm-vma-clean-up-anon_vma_compatible.patch
mm-vma-refactor-vmg_adjust_set_range-for-clarity.patch
mm-vma-minor-cleanup-of-expand_.patch
mm-introduce-and-use-linear_page_delta.patch
mm-vma-use-vma_start_pgoff-linear_page_index-in-mm-code.patch
mm-prefer-vma__pgoff-to-vma-vm_pgoff-in-kernel.patch
mm-vma-remove-duplicative-vma_pgoff_offset-helper.patch
mm-use-linear_page_-consistently.patch
mm-vma-introduce-vma_assert_can_modify.patch
mm-vma-add-and-use-vma__pgoff.patch
mm-vma-move-__install_special_mapping-to-vmac.patch
mm-vma-make-vma_set_range-static-drop-insert_vm_struct-decl.patch
mm-vma-update-vma_shrink-to-not-pass-start-pgoff-parameters.patch
mm-vma-update-vmg_adjust_set_range-to-offset-pgoff-instead.patch
mm-vma-slightly-rework-the-anonymous-check-in-__mmap_new_vma.patch
mm-vma-introduce-and-use-vma_set_pgoff.patch
mm-vma-correct-incorrect-vmah-inclusion.patch
mm-vma-use-guard-clauses-in-can_vma_merge_.patch
tools-testing-vma-default-vma-mm-flag-bits-to-64-bit.patch
tools-testing-vma-output-compared-expression-on-assert_.patch
mm-introduce-vma_flags_can_grow-and-vma_can_grow.patch
mm-vma-update-do_mmap-to-use-vma_flags_t.patch
mm-convert-__get_unmapped_area-to-use-vma_flags_t.patch
mm-update-generic_get_unmapped_area-to-use-vma_flags_t.patch
mm-prefer-mm-def_vma_flags-in-mm-logic.patch
mm-vma-convert-vm_pgprot_modify-to-use-vma_flags_t-and-rename.patch
mm-vma-rename-vma_get_page_prot-to-vma_flags_to_page_prot.patch
mm-introduce-vma_get_page_prot-and-use-it.patch
mm-vma-update-create_init_stack_vma-to-use-vma_flags_t.patch
mm-vma-convert-miscellaneous-uses-of-vma-flags-in-core-mm.patch
mm-mlock-convert-mlock-code-to-use-vma_flags_t.patch
mm-mprotect-convert-mprotect-code-to-use-vma_flags_t.patch
mm-mremap-convert-mremap-code-to-use-vma_flags_t.patch
mm-mseal-remove-superfluous-comments-fix-confusion-around-mm.patch
mm-mseal-limit-scope-of-mseal-address-zero-to-address-zero.patch
mm-mseal-remove-further-superfluous-comments-do_mseal.patch
mm-vma-introduce-vma-virtual-page-offset-field-and-add-helpers.patch
mm-introduce-linear_virt_page_index.patch
mm-abstract-vma_address-and-introduce-vma_anon_address.patch
mm-update-print_bad_page_map-to-show-virtual-page-index.patch
mm-introduce-and-use-vma_filebacked_address.patch
mm-propagate-vma-virtual-page-offset-on-map-remap-split-merge.patch
mm-rmap-track-whether-the-page-vma-mapped-walk-is-anonymous.patch
mm-introduce-and-use-linear_folio_page_index.patch
mm-rmap-use-virt-pgoff-for-map_private-file-backed-anon-folios.patch
tools-testing-vma-expand-vma-merge-tests-to-assert-virt-pgoff.patch
tools-testing-selftests-mm-test-virtual-page-offset-merge-behaviour.patch
mm-vma-only-permit-map_private-dev-zero-to-be-mapped-anonymous.patch
mm-vma-make-map_private-mapped-dev-zero-mappings-truly-anonymous.patch
tools-testing-vma-add-test-to-assert-map_private-dev-zero-is-anon.patch
tools-testing-selftests-mm-add-map_private-dev-zero-merge-tests.patch