High severity · published May 28, 2026
CVE-2026-46113
KVM: x86: Fix shadow paging use-after-free due to unexpected GFN
8.8
CVSS
0.2%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
KVM: x86: Fix shadow paging use-after-free due to unexpected GFN
The shadow MMU computes GFNs for direct shadow pages using sp->gfn plus
the SPTE index. This assumption breaks for shadow paging if the guest
page tables are modified between VM entries (similar to commit
aad885e77496, "KVM: x86/mmu: Drop/zap existing present SPTE even
when creating an MMIO SPTE", 2026-03-27). The flow is as follows:
- a PDE is installed for a 2MB mapping, and a page in that area is
accessed. KVM creates a kvm_mmu_page consisting of 512 4KB pages;
the kvm_mmu_page is marked by FNAME(fetch) as direct-mapped because
the guest's mapping is a huge page (and thus contiguous).
- the PDE mapping is changed from outside the guest.
- the guest accesses another page in the same 2MB area. KVM installs
a new leaf SPTE and rmap entry; the SPTE uses the "correct" GFN
(i.e. based on the new mapping, as changed in the previous step) but
that GFN is outside of the [sp->gfn, sp->gfn + 511] range; therefore
the rmap entry cannot be found and removed when the kvm_mmu_page
is zapped.
- the memslot that covers the first 2MB mapping is deleted, and the
kvm_mmu_page for the now-invalid GPA is zapped. However, rmap_remove()
only looks at the [sp->gfn, sp->gfn + 511] range established in step 1,
and fails to find the rmap entry that was recorded by step 3.
- any operation that causes an rmap walk for the same page accessed
by step 3 then walks a stale rmap and dereferences a freed kvm_mmu_page.
This includes dirty logging or MMU notifier invalidations (e.g., from
MADV_DONTNEED).
The underlying issue is that KVM's walking of shadow PTEs assumes that
if a SPTE is present when KVM wants to install a non-leaf SPTE, then the
existing kvm_mmu_page must be for the correct gfn. Because the only way
for the gfn to be wrong is if KVM messed up and failed to zap a SPTE...
which shouldn't happen, but *actually* only happens in response to a
guest write.
That bug dates back literally forever, as even the first version of KVM
assumes that the GFN matches and walks into the "wrong" shadow page.
However, that was only an imprecision until 2032a93d66fa ("KVM: MMU:
Don't allocate gfns page for direct mmu pages") came along.
Fix it by checking for a target gfn mismatch and zapping the existing
SPTE. That way the old SP and rmap entries are gone, KVM installs
the rmap in the right location, and everyone is happy.
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
2.6.20 before 6.1.175; 6.2 before 6.6.140; 6.7 before 6.12.88; 6.13 before 6.18.30; 6.19 before 7.0.7; 7.1; +1 more · source: NVD
LI
Linux · Linux
6aa8b732ca01c3d7a54e93f4d701b8aabbe60fb7 before 9597963a8ca16259d194a1d9950d7bd22a10ab2f; 6aa8b732ca01c3d7a54e93f4d701b8aabbe60fb7 before e9d4ea13aa2b6400bb10ec64b370ba3dadcd22f0; 6aa8b732ca01c3d7a54e93f4d701b8aabbe60fb7 before 488e386484ec8c0e558be6e156edf34ed9f4d5c8; 6aa8b732ca01c3d7a54e93f4d701b8aabbe60fb7 before 06c19c967b845b63172601fe459667d973b7e6b7; 6aa8b732ca01c3d7a54e93f4d701b8aabbe60fb7 before 738ec97b1855df6c08fe2369f798fa0b972e556b; 6aa8b732ca01c3d7a54e93f4d701b8aabbe60fb7 before 14d1e55dfd2cf4711bff164a6aaaddb783552134; +2 more · source: vendor
SS
SIMATIC S7-1500 TM MFP - GNU/Linux subsystem · Siemens
0 · source: CISA
References
NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-46113
CVE.org
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-46113
git.kernel.org
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9597963a8ca16259d194a1d9950d7bd22a10ab2f
git.kernel.org
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e9d4ea13aa2b6400bb10ec64b370ba3dadcd22f0
git.kernel.org
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/488e386484ec8c0e558be6e156edf34ed9f4d5c8
git.kernel.org
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/06c19c967b845b63172601fe459667d973b7e6b7
git.kernel.org
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/738ec97b1855df6c08fe2369f798fa0b972e556b
git.kernel.org
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/14d1e55dfd2cf4711bff164a6aaaddb783552134
More from Kernel
9.8
CVE-2025-39682
tls: fix handling of zero-length records on the rx_list
8.8
CVE-2026-53266
netfilter: bridge: make ebt_snat ARP rewrite writable
8.8
CVE-2013-6282
Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation Vulnerability
8.4
CVE-2022-0185
Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow Vulnerability
8.4
CVE-2013-2094
Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation Vulnerability
