CVE-2026-99082

KVM: x86: Use active memslots for the per-vCPU MMIO cache

State
Published
Severity
8.8 High
Published
Oct 23, 2026
Updated
Oct 30, 2026
Reserved
Sep 25, 2026

Read the record on cve.org

Description

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.

Scores

CVSSScoreVectorSource
3.18.8 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:HLinux

Weaknesses

The record names no weakness.

Affected Products

ProductVersions
LinuxLinux
  • 699023e239658e62da6f42f47d31b54788521ec1 to before 485a5286675b15b00ee850d90eaa178cc588445fAffected
  • 699023e239658e62da6f42f47d31b54788521ec1 to before 445e3369ac8cc1b18aedc8e8f977c68a0a326fa9Affected
  • 699023e239658e62da6f42f47d31b54788521ec1 to before 1c77d33d85786d36e56ca1b580fb55347fd65b47Affected
  • 699023e239658e62da6f42f47d31b54788521ec1 to before a63f79d9da9468952396af73e1e53330845cf876Affected
  • 699023e239658e62da6f42f47d31b54788521ec1 to before 7fd4e64f4bbc8c35ae8f0d2a1fb5b77a76d5b4fdAffected
  • 699023e239658e62da6f42f47d31b54788521ec1 to before 2566780c684c9c21241d409d790087c73070f312Affected
  • 699023e239658e62da6f42f47d31b54788521ec1 to before e792a9ace39d2812a5b342a1987186c7bc653204Affected
  • 699023e239658e62da6f42f47d31b54788521ec1 to before b3e6212dea2e4328a841ceb37f377583176dc735Affected
LinuxLinux
  • 4.2Affected
  • before 4.2Not affected
  • 5.10.273 through 5.10.*Not affected
  • 5.15.224 through 5.15.*Not affected
  • 6.1.191 through 6.1.*Not affected
  • 6.6.160 through 6.6.*Not affected
  • 6.12.114 through 6.12.*Not affected
  • 6.18.58 through 6.18.*Not affected
  • 7.2.12 through 7.2.*Not affected
  • 7.3 and laterNot affected

References

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