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CVE-2026-89913
KVM: arm64: vgic-v3: take an LPI reference in vgic_v3_save_pending_tables
Published 2026-09-16 (33 days ago) by the Linux kernel CNA. Subsystem arch/arm64. Debian urgency: not yet assigned.
What to do, per Debian release
Debian's own status for CVE-2026-89913 in every release this site tracks, and what each one means in practice. Every status below is the one the Debian Security Team publishes for this CVE. source
| Release | Status | Version | What this means |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian 12bookworm | vulnerable | 6.1.190-1 | No fix published anywhere yet, neither in Debian nor upstream for the series bookworm tracks. Watch the Debian tracker page for this CVE. Advisories for bookworm have historically landed a median of 23 days after publication. |
| Debian 13trixie | vulnerable | 6.12.113-1 | No fix published anywhere yet, neither in Debian nor upstream for the series trixie tracks. Watch the Debian tracker page for this CVE. Advisories for trixie have historically landed a median of 11 days after publication. |
| Debian 14forky | fixed | 7.2.6-1 | Update the kernel and reboot. Fixed in 7.2.6-1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts. |
| Debian unstablesid | fixed | 7.2.6-1 | Update the kernel and reboot. Fixed in 7.2.6-1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts. |
The vulnerability
What the bug is
vgic_v3_save_pending_tables() iterates dist->lpi_xa using xa_for_each() and dereferences the returned struct vgic_irq in the loop body without holding a reference on the LPI. The xarray iterator only provides temporary RCU coverage while looking up the current entry. That is not sufficient for this loop body, which reads fields from struct vgic_irq and performs guest memory accesses before the iteration completes. A concurrent path can trigger this race: the irqfd cached injection path (vgic_its_inject_cached_translation) obtains a transient LPI reference via vgic_its_check_cache() without holding kvm->lock, vcpu->mutex, config_lock, or its_lock. If guest ITS DISCARD then drops the cache and ITE references under its_lock, the transient inject reference may become the final one. When vgic_put_irq() drops it, the LPI is erased from lpi_xa and freed via kfree_rcu(). Meanwhile, vgic_v3_save_pending_tables() may still hold a stale pointer obtained from the xarray iterator and dereference it after the RCU grace period completes. Fix this by re-fetching each iterated LPI via vgic_get_irq(), which takes a stable reference, and dropping it with vgic_put_irq() on all paths. This matches the pattern already used by other lpi_xa iterators in the vgic ITS code.
Where it lives
The fix touches these files. If the subsystem is one you do not use, the practical exposure is lower, though the package is still the vulnerable one.
arch/arm64/kvm/vgic/vgic-v3.c
- What this is
- KERNEL VIRTUAL MACHINE FOR ARM64 (KVM/arm64)MAINTAINERS section matched on arch/arm64/kvm/ · linux-arm-kernel@lists.infradead.org · Maintained
Show whether Debian builds this, per release
Not established. This site could not find the build rule for the affected file in the kernel trees Debian ships, so it has no answer about whether Debian compiles this code. Read that as unknown, never as absent.
- bookworm, trixie, forky, sid?
- ?
- not established - no Makefile entry for the affected file
Where a release above reads "not established", no build rule for the affected file was found in that release's kernel tree. That is a gap in this lookup, not a finding that the code is absent.
From the configuration Debian publishes for every kernel flavour it builds. It covers only the architectures Debian ships a linux-config package for, and nothing about a kernel you built yourself. Debian's own status above stays authoritative about the source package.MAINTAINERS
Signals
- Published
- 2026-09-16 (33 days ago)source
- CVSS
- 8.8 high
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:Hsource recompute it - Attack vector
- local (AV:L)source
- EPSS
- 0.20%, higher than 8.6% of all CVEssource
- CISA KEV
- not listedthe KEV catalogue
- Debian urgency
- not yet assignedsource
- Subsystem
- arch/arm64
Upstream fixes
The versions the CNA records as introducing and fixing this, and the commit for each. source
| Introduced | Fixed in | Commit |
|---|---|---|
| 4.12 | 6.18.51 | 7631f9529756 |
| 4.12 | 7.2.5 | d3a2d20b7248 |
| 4.12 | 7.3 | f5b8f203bfc0 |
Why the CNA scored it this way
Quoted from the kernel CNA's own scoring file, word for word. A highlighted metric carries the most severe value CVSS v3.1 defines for it, which is what pushes the score up. source
- AV:LAttack vector, local
- The UAF is reached only via local KVM: KVM_SET_DEVICE_ATTR(KVM_DEV_ARM_VGIC_SAVE_PENDING_TABLES) on the VGIC device fd, irqfd/KVM_SIGNAL_MSI cached injection, and guest GICv3 ITS MMIO writes to GITS_CWRITER (DISCARD); there is no network, adjacent, or physical path.
- AC:LAttack complexity, low
- A kvm-group attacker who owns the VMM controls every side of the race (irqfd/KVM_SIGNAL_MSI cached inject, guest ITS DISCARD, and SAVE_PENDING_TABLES). The save path sleeps in kvm_read_guest_lock() so the kfree_rcu() window is attacker-driven rather than an uninfluenced host condition.
- PR:LPrivileges required, low
- Creating a VM and issuing VGIC device attributes requires only /dev/kvm access (typically 0660 kvm group) or tenancy in an arm64 KVM guest; kvm_dev_ioctl_create_vm() and kvm_device_ioctl() have no capable() gate, so init-namespace root is not required.
- UI:NUser interaction, none
- The attacker issues the VGIC save ioctl, irqfd/MSI injection, and guest ITS DISCARD themselves; no separate victim action such as mounting a filesystem or opening a crafted file is required.
- S:CScope, changed
- Use-after-free of host-kernel struct vgic_irq in KVM's VGIC ITS LPI xarray crosses the guest-to-host hypervisor boundary; corrupting host LPI objects from a VM/VMM can escape the guest security authority.
- C:HConfidentiality impact, high
- This is a host-kernel use-after-free of struct vgic_irq after kfree_rcu(); reclaiming the freed object lets the save loop read attacker-controlled irq fields (target_vcpu, intid, pending_latch), yielding an arbitrary host kernel read primitive.
- I:HIntegrity impact, high
- Host heap UAF of vgic_irq with attacker-controlled irqfd/DISCARD timing enables heap spray of fake irq objects, providing write and control-flow hijack primitives against the host kernel.
- A:HAvailability impact, high
- Dereferencing the freed vgic_irq after the RCU grace period (the save path sleeps in kvm_read_guest_lock()) causes a host kernel oops or panic even without a full exploit.