CVE-2026-89928

CVE CVE-2026-89928EUVD EUVD-2026-80528Published 2026-09-16T10:32:20.000ZLast changed 2026-09-16T14:40:18.000ZCVSS 8.8

What the advisory describes

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: KVM: x86/mmu: Consume the locked rmap value in the lockless rmap walk __kvm_rmap_lock() deliberately elides the rmap lock when it observes an empty rmap. In that case kvm_rmap_lock_readonly() also re-enables preemption and returns zero, so the caller holds neither the rmap lock nor a preemption reference. The elision documents the invariant it relies on: * Elide the lock if the rmap is empty, as lockless walkers (read-only * mode) don't need to (and can't) walk an empty rmap, nor can they add * entries to the rmap. I.e. the only paths that process empty rmaps * do so while holding mmu_lock for write, and are mutually exclusive. kvm_rmap_age_gfn_range() ignores the returned value and unconditionally enters for_each_rmap_spte_lockless(). The iterator started with rmap_get_first(), which re-reads rmap_head->val rather than using the value returned by the lock. If a writer populates the rmap between the lock's read and the iterator's re-read, the aging path walks the newly installed rmap without holding its lock. For a KVM_RMAP_MANY rmap this leaves the walker following a pte_list_desc chain that it never locked. A writer holding mmu_lock for write may free that chain (e.g. kvm_zap_all_rmap_sptes() on the recycle path, or any rmap zap) via kmem_cache_free() while the walk is in progress, giving a slab use-after-free. Nothing serialises the two: the aging path runs without mmu_lock when CONFIG_KVM_MMU_LOCKLESS_AGING=y, and the rmap lock that would otherwise exclude the writer was elided. Because the empty path re-enables preemption, the interval between the two reads can span an arbitrary scheduling delay. Fix the class of bug by having the lockless walk consume the value returned by the lock instead of re-reading the rmap. Split rmap_get_first() into __rmap_get_first(), which starts an iterator from an already-read rmap value, and make for_each_rmap_spte_lockless() take that value and call __rmap_get_first() directly. kvm_rmap_age_gfn_range() passes the value returned by kvm_rmap_lock_readonly(): when the lock was elided the value is zero, __rmap_get_first() returns NULL, and the walk is skipped. No lockless walker re-reads the rmap, so the lock-elision invariant cannot be violated, and no lock()-without-paired-unlock() path is added to the aging code.

Source: EUVD (ENISA), in the words of the advisory.

Products the advisory names

These come from the advisory itself, not from any check we performed.

• Linux — Linux patch: 7.3-rc1; af3b6a9eba48419732b07a0472db7160282f0f39 <e428f9779a43737d830111238816f1928b07aefb; patch: 7.2.5; af3b6a9eba48419732b07a0472db7160282f0f39 <8edb3c09e43f7cd8a5dfd291c6e0fc9c74d4621d; af3b6a9eba48419732b07a0472db7160282f0f39 <41debfc98526c0a95c41a62435aca0a70340a26d; patch: 0; 6.15; patch: 6.18.51

The versions shown are the advisory's own. Patchlage compares no version numbers and derives no judgement from them — which version is installed is something a person has to look up.

Carried in the product catalogue

An estate covering these products can be recorded in Patchlage. An advisory about them appears in the next morning's situation report.

• Linux — Linux

Patchlage reports hits and suspected hits. About everything else this system says nothing — neither this page nor the situation report ever claims that an estate is safe.