Linux Patched For Silent User-Space Data Loss Bug That's Existed Since 2023
A critical bug in the Linux kernel that caused silent user-space data loss has been patched after existing since 2023. The issue occurred when transparent hugepages were enabled under cgroup limits, causing writes after a MADV_FREE call to be lost. The fix, which involves a single line of code change, was merged into the kernel and is being back-ported to stable releases.
- ▪The bug was introduced in July 2023 and affected Linux kernel releases starting from version 6.6.
- ▪Data loss occurred when the kernel ran with transparent hugepages enabled, under cgroup limits, and during heavy memory reclaim pressure.
- ▪Production users of the Polars data analytics library reported experiencing data loss due to this specific kernel bug.
- ▪The patch was merged following the Linux 7.3-rc3 release and is marked for back-porting to currently supported stable kernel series.
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| Original publisher | Phoronix |
| Canonical URL | https://www.phoronix.com/news/Linux-7.3-Fix-Silent-Data-Loss |
| Publication time | Mon, 14 Sep 2026 06:13:45 -0400 |
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Linux Patched For Silent User-Space Data Loss Bug That's Existed Since 2023 Written by Michael Larabel in Linux Kernel on 14 September 2026 at 06:13 AM EDT. Add A Comment Being merged after yesterday's Linux 7.3-rc3 release was an important fix for addressing a silent, user-space data loss bug that has existed in the kernel the past three years. Reported at the beginning of the month was the bug and a small C program to reproduce the issue. If the kernel is running with transparent hugepages (THP) enabled and under cgroup limits, writes that happen after a MADV_FREE call could be completely lost. This bug isn't hypothetical but has come up in production with at least users of the Polars data analytics library finding production data loss from this kernel bug.
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