CVE-2026-98464
CriticalCVSS 9.3Exploitation Probability (EPSS)
Low risk6th percentile - higher than 6% of all known CVEs
Summary
In the Linux kernel, a race condition exists in the RISC-V KVM component during VM teardown. The non-Sstc hrtimer callback clears next_set before its final uses of the vCPU, and if teardown observes next_set as false while the callback is still running, kvm_riscv_vcpu_timer_cancel() skips hrtimer_cancel() and the vCPU can be freed before the callback completes. This results in a use-after-free detected by KASAN.
Risk Assessment
The vulnerability can cause kernel memory corruption (use-after-free) and potentially crash or compromise the host system. Exploitation requires a malicious guest and a VMM that honors KVM_EXIT_SYSTEM_EVENT and destroys the VM, and reproduction is timing-sensitive.
Recommendation
Update the Linux kernel to a version containing the fix that always invokes hrtimer_cancel() for an initialized timer before vCPU destruction. Until patched, restrict the ability to run untrusted virtual machines on affected hosts.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
See all- CVE-2026-58942High
In do_fault_around of memory.c, there is a possible use after free due to a logic error in the code. This could lead to local escalation of privilege with no additional execution privileges needed.
- CVE-2026-58847Unknown
In kvm_vfio_pviommu_attach of vfio.c, there is a possible double free due to a logic error in the code. This could lead to local escalation of privilege with no additional execution privileges needed. User interaction is not needed for exploitation.
- CVE-2026-58829High
In fuse_backing_mmap of backing.c, there is a possible memory corruption due to a use after free. This could lead to local escalation of privilege with no additional execution privileges needed.
- CVE-2026-58828High
In multiple functions of base.c, there is a possible use-after-free due to a race condition. This could lead to local escalation of privilege with no additional execution privileges needed.
- CVE-2026-58827High
In multiple functions of dma-buf.c, there is a possible use after free due to a race condition. This could lead to local escalation of privilege with no additional execution privileges needed.
- CVE-2026-58826High
In ksys_unshare of fork.c, there is a possible memory corruption due to a use after free. This could lead to local escalation of privilege with no additional execution privileges needed.
- CVE-2026-58825High
In multiple functions of fork.c, there is a possible use after free due to a logic error in the code. This could lead to local escalation of privilege with no additional execution privileges needed.
- CVE-2026-99242Unknown
In the Linux kernel, a race between fallocate and mmap reads in NTFS was fixed. Fallocate only took invalidate_lock for punch hole, collapse range and insert range operations, and during standard allocation new clusters were mapped before being zeroed, allowing concurrent mmap page faults to read uninitialized disk data.
- CVE-2026-99241Unknown
In the Linux kernel, a missing lock in ntfs_filemap_page_mkwrite() was fixed; it called iomap_page_mkwrite() without holding mapping->invalidate_lock. A concurrent truncate or fallocate could be invalidating pagecache and rewriting the runlist while the write fault mapped blocks and dirtied the folio.
- CVE-2026-99240Unknown
In the Linux kernel, the DAMON subsystem (mm/damon/core) has a division-by-zero bug when a DAMOS quota goal has a target_value of zero. The fix moves handling of this corner case to the core layer by adding validation in damos_commit_quota_goal(), which now returns an error for zero target values.
Original NVD description (English source)
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: RISC-V: KVM: Synchronize hrtimer callback during teardown The non-Sstc hrtimer callback clears next_set before its final uses of the enclosing vCPU. If teardown observes next_set as false while the callback is still running, kvm_riscv_vcpu_timer_cancel() skips hrtimer_cancel() and kvm_destroy_vcpus() can free the vCPU before the callback enters kvm_riscv_vcpu_set_interrupt(). A guest can arm the timer with SBI TIME and request shutdown with SBI legacy shutdown or SRST. A VMM that honors KVM_EXIT_SYSTEM_EVENT and destroys the VM supplies the teardown side of the race; no post-launch host ioctl is needed to arm or request teardown. On upstream master 62cc90241548, generic KASAN reported: BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in do_raw_spin_lock Write of size 4 at addr ff60000005e58898 kvm_riscv_vcpu_set_interrupt kvm_riscv_vcpu_hrtimer_expired __hrtimer_run_queues hrtimer_interrupt The object was allocated by KVM_CREATE_VCPU and freed concurrently by: kvm_destroy_vcpus kvm_arch_destroy_vm kvm_destroy_vm __fput For deterministic validation, I added mdelay(1000) immediately after the existing next_set = false assignment. This only widens the existing post-clear callback window. A no-delay trace build naturally reached the callback-after-teardown-start/before-deinit ordering in 12 of 200 runs, but 1,500 stock-kernel stress iterations did not produce a KASAN report, so natural reproduction is timing-sensitive. Always invoke hrtimer_cancel() for an initialized timer. Preserve the existing -EINVAL result when the timer is no longer set, but only after synchronizing with a running callback. With this patch, hrtimer_cancel() blocked for the full widened callback window before vCPU destruction. KASAN reported no error in 100 fixed-and-widened runs or 200 fix-only timing-sweep runs.
Vulnerability data from NVD (NIST) · CISA KEV · EPSS