CVE-2026-23198

MEDIUM EPSS 2.5%
Published Feb 14, 20264mo ago · Modified Jun 17, 20261w ago
5.5 CVSS 3.1
Medium
Find Similar
Published Feb 14, 2026 4mo ago
Last Modified Jun 17, 2026 1w ago

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: KVM: Don't clobber irqfd routing type when deassigning irqfd When deassigning a KVM_IRQFD, don't clobber the irqfd's copy of the IRQ's routing entry as doing so breaks kvm_arch_irq_bypass_del_producer() on x86 and arm64, which explicitly look for KVM_IRQ_ROUTING_MSI. Instead, to handle a concurrent routing update, verify that the irqfd is still active before consuming the routing information. As evidenced by the x86 and arm64 bugs, and another bug in kvm_arch_update_irqfd_routing() (see below), clobbering the entry type without notifying arch code is surprising and error prone. As a bonus, checking that the irqfd is active provides a convenient location for documenting _why_ KVM must not consume the routing entry for an irqfd that is in the process of being deassigned: once the irqfd is deleted from the list (which happens *before* the eventfd is detached), it will no longer receive updates via kvm_irq_routing_update(), and so KVM could deliver an event using stale routing information (relative to KVM_SET_GSI_ROUTING returning to userspace). As an even better bonus, explicitly checking for the irqfd being active fixes a similar bug to the one the clobbering is trying to prevent: if an irqfd is deactivated, and then its routing is changed, kvm_irq_routing_update() won't invoke kvm_arch_update_irqfd_routing() (because the irqfd isn't in the list). And so if the irqfd is in bypass mode, IRQs will continue to be posted using the old routing information. As for kvm_arch_irq_bypass_del_producer(), clobbering the routing type results in KVM incorrectly keeping the IRQ in bypass mode, which is especially problematic on AMD as KVM tracks IRQs that are being posted to a vCPU in a list whose lifetime is tied to the irqfd. Without the help of KASAN to detect use-after-free, the most common sympton on AMD is a NULL pointer deref in amd_iommu_update_ga() due to the memory for irqfd structure being re-allocated and zeroed, resulting in irqfd->irq_bypass_data being NULL when read by avic_update_iommu_vcpu_affinity(): BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000018 #PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode #PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present page PGD 40cf2b9067 P4D 40cf2b9067 PUD 408362a067 PMD 0 Oops: Oops: 0000 [#1] SMP CPU: 6 UID: 0 PID: 40383 Comm: vfio_irq_test Tainted: G U W O 6.19.0-smp--5dddc257e6b2-irqfd #31 NONE Tainted: [U]=USER, [W]=WARN, [O]=OOT_MODULE Hardware name: Google, Inc. Arcadia_IT_80/Arcadia_IT_80, BIOS 34.78.2-0 09/05/2025 RIP: 0010:amd_iommu_update_ga+0x19/0xe0 Call Trace: <TASK> avic_update_iommu_vcpu_affinity+0x3d/0x90 [kvm_amd] __avic_vcpu_load+0xf4/0x130 [kvm_amd] kvm_arch_vcpu_load+0x89/0x210 [kvm] vcpu_load+0x30/0x40 [kvm] kvm_arch_vcpu_ioctl_run+0x45/0x620 [kvm] kvm_vcpu_ioctl+0x571/0x6a0 [kvm] __se_sys_ioctl+0x6d/0xb0 do_syscall_64+0x6f/0x9d0 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x4b/0x53 RIP: 0033:0x46893b </TASK> ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]--- If AVIC is inhibited when the irfd is deassigned, the bug will manifest as list corruption, e.g. on the next irqfd assignment. list_add corruption. next->prev should be prev (ffff8d474d5cd588), but was 0000000000000000. (next=ffff8d8658f86530). ------------[ cut here ]------------ kernel BUG at lib/list_debug.c:31! Oops: invalid opcode: 0000 [#1] SMP CPU: 128 UID: 0 PID: 80818 Comm: vfio_irq_test Tainted: G U W O 6.19.0-smp--f19dc4d680ba-irqfd #28 NONE Tainted: [U]=USER, [W]=WARN, [O]=OOT_MODULE Hardware name: Google, Inc. Arcadia_IT_80/Arcadia_IT_80, BIOS 34.78.2-0 09/05/2025 RIP: 0010:__list_add_valid_or_report+0x97/0xc0 Call Trace: <TASK> avic_pi_update_irte+0x28e/0x2b0 [kvm_amd] kvm_pi_update_irte+0xbf/0x190 [kvm] kvm_arch_irq_bypass_add_producer+0x72/0x90 [kvm] irq_bypass_register_consumer+0xcd/0x170 [irqbypa ---truncated---

CVSS Details

Base Score
5.5
Exploitability
1.8
Impact
3.6
Vector string
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Attack Vector Local
Attack Complexity Low
Privileges Required Low
User Interaction None
Scope Unchanged
Confidentiality None
Integrity None
Availability High

Threat Intelligence

EPSS Exploit Probability
2.5% percentile
Exploit & Patch Status
No Known Exploit
Patch Available

Weaknesses 1

CWE-476 NULL Pointer Dereference Memory Safety

Affected Products 14

VendorProductVersionRange
linuxlinux_kernel*≥4.4  –  <5.10.250
linuxlinux_kernel*≥5.11  –  <5.15.200
linuxlinux_kernel*≥5.16  –  <6.1.163
linuxlinux_kernel*≥6.2  –  <6.6.124
linuxlinux_kernel*≥6.7  –  <6.12.70
linuxlinux_kernel*≥6.13  –  <6.18.10
linuxlinux_kernel6.19any
linuxlinux_kernel6.19any
linuxlinux_kernel6.19any
linuxlinux_kernel6.19any
linuxlinux_kernel6.19any
linuxlinux_kernel6.19any
linuxlinux_kernel6.19any
linuxlinux_kernel6.19any

References 7

  • git.kernel.org https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2284bc168b148a17b5ca3b37b3d95c411f18a08d
    Patch
  • git.kernel.org https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4385b2f2843549bfb932e0dcf76bf4b065543a3c
    Patch
  • git.kernel.org https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6d14ba1e144e796b5fc81044f08cfba9024ca195
    Patch
  • git.kernel.org https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/959a063e7f12524bc1871ad1f519787967bbcd45
    Patch
  • git.kernel.org https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b4d37cdb77a0015f51fee083598fa227cc07aaf1
    Patch
  • git.kernel.org https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b61f9b2fcf181451d0a319889478cc53c001123e
    Patch
  • git.kernel.org https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ff48c9312d042bfbe826ca675e98acc6c623211c
    Patch

Remediation

  • git.kernel.org https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2284bc168b148a17b5ca3b37b3d95c411f18a08d
    Patch
  • git.kernel.org https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4385b2f2843549bfb932e0dcf76bf4b065543a3c
    Patch
  • git.kernel.org https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6d14ba1e144e796b5fc81044f08cfba9024ca195
    Patch
  • git.kernel.org https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/959a063e7f12524bc1871ad1f519787967bbcd45
    Patch
  • git.kernel.org https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b4d37cdb77a0015f51fee083598fa227cc07aaf1
    Patch
  • git.kernel.org https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b61f9b2fcf181451d0a319889478cc53c001123e
    Patch
  • git.kernel.org https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ff48c9312d042bfbe826ca675e98acc6c623211c
    Patch