CVE-2026-99082
HighCVSS 8.8Exploitation Probability (EPSS)
Low risk5th percentile - higher than 5% of all known CVEs
Summary
A bug was fixed in the Linux kernel KVM on x86 regarding the per-vCPU MMIO cache. The cache was tagged with a memslot generation, but both the fill and validation paths used kvm_memslots(), which unconditionally selects address space 0 even when the vCPU runs in SMM and uses address space 1. As a result, an SMM memslot update could leave an apparently valid entry from the old SMM address space after the vCPU returns to the normal address space, letting a guest force a KVM_EXIT_MMIO for valid RAM.
Risk Assessment
A guest can cause a backing page write without going through KVM's write-tracking path; if the page backs a nested EPT table, KVM may keep using stale shadow translations, potentially breaking VM isolation and triggering the kvm_mmu_write_protect_fault() warning.
Recommendation
Update the Linux kernel to a version containing the fix that uses the vCPU's active memslots (kvm_vcpu_memslots()) when caching and validating the MMIO entry. After updating, run the x86/smm_test, set_memory_region_test, and memslot_modification_stress_test regression tests.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
See all- CVE-2026-43603Medium
A NULL pointer dereference in the Linux GPU driver could potentially lead to a kernel crash. This may result in a denial of service on the affected system.
- CVE-2026-99270High
A use-after-free (UAF) vulnerability exists in the Linux kernel's reqsk_timer_handler() function. When TCP socket migration fails at inet_ehash_insert(), the code jumps to the no_ownership label and immediately frees the new reqsk via __reqsk_free() without stopping its timer, potentially leading to a UAF.
- CVE-2026-99269High
In the Linux kernel sched_ext scheduler, a task can be found on a non-local DSQ while the CPU that dispatched it is still running ops.dequeue() and hasn't cleared SCX_OPSS_DISPATCHING. The DSQ consume and move paths don't wait for dispatch to finish and can operate on the task concurrently with the dispatcher. The fix adds scx_wait_dispatching() before operating on the task.
- CVE-2026-99268Unknown
In io_uring with IORING_SETUP_DEFER_TASKRUN, completions are queued as local work and only become CQEs when the submitter enters the kernel to wait for events. io_uring_poll() reports EPOLLIN if local work is pending, but only if the work exists at call time; after DEFER_TASKRUN was added, the ->poll_wq wakeup was replaced by directly waking the submitter, so poll() can sleep despite pending work. The fix wakes ->poll_wq when the first entry is put on the work list, using an RCU callback when needed.
- CVE-2026-99267Unknown
In io_uring NAPI with dynamic tracking, a NAPI id not seen for a minute should be dropped from the ring's busy-poll list. However, the timeout is computed incorrectly — SEC_CONVERSION is used instead of the number of jiffies per second, giving about eight years for HZ=1000 and overflowing on 32-bit systems. As a result, entries are never removed and every wait polls all historical ids.
- CVE-2026-99266Unknown
In io_uring zcrx, io_zcrx_queue_cqe() computes the buffer offset in its area from net_iov_idx(), which is an unsigned int, so the shift is done in 32 bits and only the result is widened to the u64 placed in the CQE. An area can be up to 1 TB, so for every niov beyond the first 4 GB the CQE points the application at a buffer 4 GB (or a multiple) below the correct one. The application reads wrong data and returns a buffer it doesn't own via the refill queue while the real one is never given back.
- CVE-2026-99265Unknown
In io_uring/openclose, io_pipe_fixed() installs both ends of the pipe in the fixed file table, drops ->uring_lock, and copies the slot numbers to the application. If that faults, it takes the lock again and removes whatever is in these slots. If the request is run by io-wq, the lock really is dropped and the slots are visible to others; by the time the error path gets to them, they may have been closed and reused (by IORING_OP_CLOSE, direct open/accept, or IORING_REGISTER_FILES_UPDATE), causing removal of a file unrelated to the failed request. The fix performs the copy with the lock held.
- CVE-2026-99264High
A bug was fixed in the Linux kernel's io_uring/net handling of recv retries on uncommitted buffers. When a receive was retried after a partial transfer, the kernel could hand out buffer memory that the retried request was still writing to, causing data overwrites. The request is now completed with the bytes received instead of retried, and MSG_WAITALL is no longer honoured for incremental buffers or multi-buffer bundles.
- CVE-2026-99263Unknown
In io_uring/poll, if a wakeup sets IO_POLL_RETRY_FLAG between the owning task consuming the existing instance of IO_POLL_RETRY_FLAG and the loop check in io_poll_check_events(), request processing stalls until an unrelated wakeup arrives. The fix uses atomic_cmpxchg instead of atomic_sub_return to guarantee both the count v and poll_refs are 0 and no wakeups are missed.
- CVE-2026-99262Unknown
In io_uring/timeout, an IORING_OP_TIMEOUT run by io-wq due to IOSQE_ASYNC has the same problem as poll, futex, and waitid. io_wq_submit_work() checks IO_WQ_WORK_CANCEL only once before issuing the request; a cancel in between flags the work, gets -EALREADY, and searches ->timeout_list in vain while the worker adds the request and starts the timer. Nobody checks the flag again and the timeout runs its course, and at ring exit a task can get stuck for the full duration. The fix checks the flag under ->timeout_lock and fails the request if set.
Original NVD description (English source)
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: KVM: x86: Use active memslots for the per-vCPU MMIO cache KVM tags the per-vCPU MMIO cache with a memslot generation so that a memslot update invalidates cached MMIO information. Both the fill and validation paths use kvm_memslots(), which unconditionally selects address space 0, even when the vCPU is running in SMM and using address space 1. Commit 56f17dd3fbc4 ("kvm: x86: fix stale mmio cache bug") added the memslot generation to the cache key so that a memslot update could not leave a stale entry valid. When commit 699023e23965 ("KVM: x86: add SMM to the MMU role, support SMRAM address space") added the SMM address space, these helpers were not converted to use the active memslots. Consequently, an update to the SMM memslots can leave an entry from the old SMM address space apparently valid after the vCPU returns to the normal address space. A guest can then cause an access to valid RAM at the same GFN to be returned to userspace as KVM_EXIT_MMIO. Completing that exit through the VMM's RAM address space writes the backing page without going through KVM's write-tracking path. If the page backs a nested EPT table, KVM can continue using shadow translations derived from the old contents. The WARN_ON_ONCE() in kvm_mmu_write_protect_fault() catches this invalid cache and memslot combination. Use the vCPU's active memslots when caching and validating the entry. Memslot generations are unique across address spaces, so the generation also distinguishes the normal and SMM views. This matches the MMIO SPTE cache, which already uses kvm_vcpu_memslots(). On an unpatched current-mainline kernel, a regression test that fills the cache in SMM and updates only the SMM memslots fails the intended RAM write and triggers the kvm_mmu_write_protect_fault() warning. With this change, the same test completes the RAM write without a warning. The x86/smm_test, set_memory_region_test, and memslot_modification_stress_test selftests also pass.
Vulnerability data from NVD (NIST) · CISA KEV · EPSS

