High severity · published Apr 24, 2026
CVE-2026-31588
KVM: x86: Use scratch field in MMIO fragment to hold small write values
8.8
CVSS
0.2%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
KVM: x86: Use scratch field in MMIO fragment to hold small write values
When exiting to userspace to service an emulated MMIO write, copy the
to-be-written value to a scratch field in the MMIO fragment if the size
of the data payload is 8 bytes or less, i.e. can fit in a single chunk,
instead of pointing the fragment directly at the source value.
This fixes a class of use-after-free bugs that occur when the emulator
initiates a write using an on-stack, local variable as the source, the
write splits a page boundary, *and* both pages are MMIO pages. Because
KVM's ABI only allows for physically contiguous MMIO requests, accesses
that split MMIO pages are separated into two fragments, and are sent to
userspace one at a time. When KVM attempts to complete userspace MMIO in
response to KVM_RUN after the first fragment, KVM will detect the second
fragment and generate a second userspace exit, and reference the on-stack
variable.
The issue is most visible if the second KVM_RUN is performed by a separate
task, in which case the stack of the initiating task can show up as truly
freed data.
==================================================================
BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in complete_emulated_mmio+0x305/0x420
Read of size 1 at addr ffff888009c378d1 by task syz-executor417/984
CPU: 1 PID: 984 Comm: syz-executor417 Not tainted 5.10.0-182.0.0.95.h2627.eulerosv2r13.x86_64 #3
Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS rel-1.15.0-0-g2dd4b9b3f840-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014 Call Trace:
dump_stack+0xbe/0xfd
print_address_description.constprop.0+0x19/0x170
__kasan_report.cold+0x6c/0x84
kasan_report+0x3a/0x50
check_memory_region+0xfd/0x1f0
memcpy+0x20/0x60
complete_emulated_mmio+0x305/0x420
kvm_arch_vcpu_ioctl_run+0x63f/0x6d0
kvm_vcpu_ioctl+0x413/0xb20
__se_sys_ioctl+0x111/0x160
do_syscall_64+0x30/0x40
entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x67/0xd1
RIP: 0033:0x42477d
Code: <48> 3d 01 f0 ff ff 73 01 c3 48 c7 c1 b0 ff ff ff f7 d8 64 89 01 48
RSP: 002b:00007faa8e6890e8 EFLAGS: 00000246 ORIG_RAX: 0000000000000010
RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 00000000004d7338 RCX: 000000000042477d
RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 000000000000ae80 RDI: 0000000000000005
RBP: 00000000004d7330 R08: 00007fff28d546df R09: 0000000000000000
R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000246 R12: 00000000004d733c
R13: 0000000000000000 R14: 000000000040a200 R15: 00007fff28d54720
The buggy address belongs to the page:
page:0000000029f6a428 refcount:0 mapcount:0 mapping:0000000000000000 index:0x0 pfn:0x9c37
flags: 0xfffffc0000000(node=0|zone=1|lastcpupid=0x1fffff)
raw: 000fffffc0000000 0000000000000000 ffffea0000270dc8 0000000000000000
raw: 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 00000000ffffffff 0000000000000000 page dumped because: kasan: bad access detected
Memory state around the buggy address:
ffff888009c37780: ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
ffff888009c37800: ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
>ffff888009c37880: ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
^
ffff888009c37900: ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
ffff888009c37980: ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
==================================================================
The bug can also be reproduced with a targeted KVM-Unit-Test by hacking
KVM to fill a large on-stack variable in complete_emulated_mmio(), i.e. by
overwrite the data value with garbage.
Limit the use of the scratch fields to 8-byte or smaller accesses, and to
just writes, as larger accesses and reads are not affected thanks to
implementation details in the emulator, but add a sanity check to ensure
those details don't change in the future. Specifically, KVM never uses
on-stack variables for accesses larger that 8 bytes, e.g. uses an operand
in the emulator context, and *al
---truncated---
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High
Scope
Changed
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)0.2% · higher than 9% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
KE
Kernel · Linux
3.5 before 6.6.136; 6.7 before 6.12.83; 6.13 before 6.18.24; 6.19 before 6.19.14; 7.0 before 7.0.1 · source: NVD
LI
Linux · Linux
f78146b0f9230765c6315b2e14f56112513389ad before 019d0bd32b9a4646ba35d904907452039e2db700; f78146b0f9230765c6315b2e14f56112513389ad before 4569c66dd9e94a22cd0796b6514a8b25ffff16a1; f78146b0f9230765c6315b2e14f56112513389ad before 52570e73d48f1c73836d37e594667117b4c2a5a8; f78146b0f9230765c6315b2e14f56112513389ad before dc6a6c3db3a4eca7e747cfc46e22c08d016c68f7; f78146b0f9230765c6315b2e14f56112513389ad before b5a02d37eb0739f462fa12df449ab9b3480c783b; f78146b0f9230765c6315b2e14f56112513389ad before 22d2ff69d487a32a8b88f9c970120fc2daa08a77; +4 more · source: vendor
References
NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-31588
CVE.org
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-31588
git.kernel.org
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/019d0bd32b9a4646ba35d904907452039e2db700
Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0b16e69d17d8c35c5c9d5918bf596c75a44655d3
Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/22d2ff69d487a32a8b88f9c970120fc2daa08a77
Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2b83d91e9ae92fe1258d7040a32430bbb3bb7d6e
Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/3a7b6d75c8f85b09dea893f64a85a356bcf6c3fe
git.kernel.org
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4569c66dd9e94a22cd0796b6514a8b25ffff16a1
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