High severity · published Jul 19, 2026
CVE-2026-63807
KVM: x86/mmu: Ensure hugepage is in by slot before checking max mapping level
8.8
CVSS
0.2%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
KVM: x86/mmu: Ensure hugepage is in by slot before checking max mapping level
When recovering hugepages in the shadow MMU, verify that the base gfn of
the shadow page is actually contained within the target memslot, *before*
querying the max mapping level given the shadow page's gfn. Failure to
pre-check the validity of the gfn can lead to an out-of-bounds access to
the slot's lpage_info (which typically manifests as a host #PF because the
lpage_info is vmalloc'd) if the guest creates a hugepage mapping (in its
PTEs) that extends "below" the bounds of a memslot.
When faulting in memory for a guest, and the size of the guest mapping is
greater than KVM's (current) max mapping, then KVM will create a "direct"
shadow page (direct in that there are no gPTEs to shadow, and so the target
gfn is a direct calculation given the base gfn of the shadow page). The
hugepage recovery flow looks for such direct shadow pages, as forcing 4KiB
mappings when dirty logging generates the guest > host mapping size case.
When the 4KiB restriction is lifted, then KVM can replace the shadow page
with a hugepage.
But if KVM originally used a smaller mapping than the guest because the
range of memory covered by the guest hugepage exceeds the bounds of a
memslot, then KVM will link a direct shadow page with a gfn that is outside
the bounds of the memslot being used to fault in memory. The rmap entry
added for the leaf mapping is correct and within bounds, but the gfn of the
leaf SPTE's parent shadow page will be out of bounds.
BUG: unable to handle page fault for address: ffffc90000806ffc
#PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode
#PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present page
PGD 100000067 P4D 100000067 PUD 1002a7067 PMD 10612f067 PTE 0
Oops: Oops: 0000 [#1] SMP
CPU: 13 UID: 1000 PID: 757 Comm: mmu_stress_test Not tainted 7.1.0-rc1-48ce1e26eace-x86_pir_to_irr_comments-vm #341 PREEMPT
Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS 0.0.0 02/06/2015
RIP: 0010:kvm_mmu_max_mapping_level+0x79/0x2b0 [kvm]
Call Trace:
<TASK>
kvm_mmu_recover_huge_pages+0x21b/0x320 [kvm]
kvm_set_memslot+0x1ee/0x590 [kvm]
kvm_set_memory_region.part.0+0x3a1/0x4d0 [kvm]
kvm_vm_ioctl+0x9bf/0x15d0 [kvm]
__x64_sys_ioctl+0x8a/0xd0
do_syscall_64+0xb7/0xbb0
entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x4b/0x53
RIP: 0033:0x7f21c0f1a9bf
</TASK>
Don't bother pre-checking the bounds of the potential hugepage, i.e. don't
check that e.g. sp->gfn + KVM_PAGES_PER_HPAGE(sp->role.level + 1) is also
within the memslot, as the checks performed by kvm_mmu_max_mapping_level()
are a superset of the basic bounds checks. I.e. pre-checking the full
range would be a dubious micro-optimization.
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 7% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
KE
Kernel · Linux
5.12 before 5.15.211; 5.16 before 6.1.177; 6.2 before 6.6.144; 6.7 before 6.12.95; 6.13 before 6.18.38; 6.19 before 7.1.3 · source: NVD
LI
Linux · Linux
9eba50f8d7fcb61774f160890f98239fa3ab68a6 before 7b52008023b7facf40fba3ebe92449bda8ea53b9; 9eba50f8d7fcb61774f160890f98239fa3ab68a6 before 5cab1c989f938f5e1b9a0de66486f1fc2c28479b; 9eba50f8d7fcb61774f160890f98239fa3ab68a6 before 48b91ed7e22bb82571c34f8b80b6ecdc90a6fab8; 9eba50f8d7fcb61774f160890f98239fa3ab68a6 before c5c29b3c268332afe67d598a034c58344540ed92; 9eba50f8d7fcb61774f160890f98239fa3ab68a6 before 18587f9831612e24cd8f24be1ec15478feff7abc; 9eba50f8d7fcb61774f160890f98239fa3ab68a6 before b2ae3245ea44dccaa9af676b6747476951883318; +2 more · source: vendor
References
NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-63807
CVE.org
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-63807
Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/18587f9831612e24cd8f24be1ec15478feff7abc
Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/48b91ed7e22bb82571c34f8b80b6ecdc90a6fab8
Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5cab1c989f938f5e1b9a0de66486f1fc2c28479b
Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7b52008023b7facf40fba3ebe92449bda8ea53b9
Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b2ae3245ea44dccaa9af676b6747476951883318
Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c5c29b3c268332afe67d598a034c58344540ed92
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
