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CVE-2026-97478
virt: acrn: Fix irqfd use-after-free during eventfd shutdown
Published 2026-09-24 (24 days ago) by the Linux kernel CNA. Subsystem drivers/virt. Debian urgency: not yet assigned.
Debian does not build this code. The per-release build detail is under "Where it lives" below.
What to do, per Debian release
Debian's own status for CVE-2026-97478 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
acrn_irqfd_deassign() and the eventfd EPOLLHUP wakeup can race and free the same struct hsm_irqfd: CPU0 CPU1 ---- ---- eventfd_release() wake_up_poll(EPOLLHUP) hsm_irqfd_wakeup() queue_work(&irqfd->shutdown) acrn_irqfd_deassign() hsm_irqfd_shutdown() list_del_init() eventfd_ctx_remove_wait_queue() eventfd_ctx_put() kfree(irqfd) hsm_irqfd_shutdown_work() container_of(work, ..., shutdown) irqfd->vm <-- use-after-free The deassign path freed the irqfd while a shutdown work item was already queued by EPOLLHUP (or vice versa), so the work item could resurrect a dangling pointer through container_of(). Switch to the lifetime model used by KVM irqfds: - Deassign/deinit only deactivate the irqfd: remove it from vm->irqfds under irqfds_lock and queue the cleanup work. - hsm_irqfd_shutdown_work() becomes the sole owner that unhooks the eventfd waitqueue entry, drops the eventfd reference and frees the irqfd. - A new HSM_IRQFD_FLAG_SHUTDOWN bit guarded by test_and_set_bit() ensures the cleanup work is queued at most once, no matter how many of {EPOLLHUP, deassign, deinit} fire concurrently. This is safe to call from the waitqueue callback, which runs with wqh->lock held and IRQs disabled and therefore cannot take irqfds_lock. - acrn_irqfd_deassign() flushes vm->irqfd_wq before returning so the eventfd is fully detached on return. acrn_irqfd_deinit() deactivates every irqfd, flushes the workqueue and only then destroys it, so no path can queue_work() onto a torn-down workqueue. - acrn_irqfd_assign() now installs the eventfd waitqueue entry and publishes the irqfd to vm->irqfds under irqfds_lock, so the irqfd is never visible to deassign/deinit before its waitqueue entry is in place, and any EPOLLHUP that fires in the assign window queues cleanup work that blocks on irqfds_lock until publication is done.
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.
drivers/virt/acrn/irqfd.c
- What this is
- ACRN HYPERVISOR SERVICE MODULEMAINTAINERS section matched on drivers/virt/acrn/ · acrn-dev@lists.projectacrn.org · Supported
Check it on the machine
grep -wE 'CONFIG_ACRN_HSM|CONFIG_VIRT_DRIVERS' /boot/config-$(uname -r)Reads the booted kernel's own configuration, on the machine and nowhere else. =y is built in, =m is a module, and an is not set line means the code is not there.
Show whether Debian builds this, per release
Debian does not build this code. In 4 releases below, every kernel flavour Debian publishes has the switch off, so the vulnerable file is compiled into no kernel binary Debian ships.
- bookworm, trixie, forky, sidn
- n
- not enabled on any flavour - this release does not build the code
- Build switches
- CONFIG_ACRN_HSM, CONFIG_VIRT_DRIVERS
- Reads as
- all on means the file is compiled; any one off means it is not.
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 kbuild Makefiles Debian linux-config packages
Signals
- Published
- 2026-09-24 (24 days ago)source
- CVSS
- 7.8 high
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:Hsource recompute it - Attack vector
- local (AV:L)source
- EPSS
- 0.12%, higher than 1.7% of all CVEssource
- CISA KEV
- not listedthe KEV catalogue
- Debian urgency
- not yet assignedsource
- Subsystem
- drivers/virt
Upstream fixes
The versions the CNA records as introducing and fixing this, and the commit for each. source
| Introduced | Fixed in | Commit |
|---|---|---|
| 5.12 | 6.18.53 | d8156aacfcab |
| 5.12 | 7.2 | 666c7f9e0792 |
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 from ioctl(ACRN_IOCTL_IRQFD) on /dev/acrn_hsm: acrn_dev_ioctl() copy_from_user()s struct acrn_irqfd and calls acrn_irqfd_config() → acrn_irqfd_assign()/acrn_irqfd_deassign(), while close() of that eventfd hits eventfd_release() → hsm_irqfd_wakeup(). No remote protocol carries the fd, flags, or EPOLLHUP.
- AC:LAttack complexity, low
- The attacker owns both sides: one thread ioctl(ACRN_IOCTL_IRQFD) with ACRN_IRQFD_FLAG_DEASSIGN so acrn_irqfd_deassign() → hsm_irqfd_shutdown() kfree()s the hsm_irqfd, while another close()s a dup of the same eventfd so eventfd_release() → wake_up_poll(EPOLLHUP) → hsm_irqfd_wakeup() queues hsm_irqfd_shutdown_work(); the window is retryable.
- PR:LPrivileges required, low
- acrn_dev_open(), acrn_dev_ioctl() and acrn_irqfd_config() have no capable()/CAP_* gate; only /dev/acrn_hsm DAC applies. ACRN Service VM deployments grant that node to the deprivileged acrn-dm device-model account (as with /dev/kvm), so a local user with that fd can CREATE_VM and IRQFD without init-namespace root.
- UI:NUser interaction, none
- The attacker opens /dev/acrn_hsm, ioctl(ACRN_IOCTL_CREATE_VM) then ACRN_IOCTL_IRQFD assign, and races close() of its own eventfd against deassign (or acrn_dev_release() → acrn_irqfd_deinit()); no other user must mount, open, or click.
- S:UScope, unchanged
- hsm_irqfd_shutdown_work() uses the freed struct hsm_irqfd in the Service VM kernel that runs acrn_dev_ioctl(). The attacker is already a Service VM process issuing HSM ioctls, not a User VM guest crossing into the ACRN hypervisor, so impact stays in one kernel authority.
- C:HConfidentiality impact, high
- After acrn_irqfd_deassign() kfree()s the hsm_irqfd, hsm_irqfd_shutdown_work() container_of()s the queued work_struct and reads irqfd->vm (and later irqfd->eventfd) from the freed kmalloc object. Reclaiming that slot lets the attacker disclose reallocated kernel heap through those dangling loads.
- I:HIntegrity impact, high
- The same UAF lets hsm_irqfd_shutdown_work() mutex_lock(&irqfd->vm->irqfds_lock), list_del_init(&irqfd->list) and eventfd_ctx_put(irqfd->eventfd) on attacker-reclaimed hsm_irqfd fields, which is an arbitrary write / wait-queue function-pointer hijack, plus a second kfree of the sprayed object.
- A:HAvailability impact, high
- hsm_irqfd_shutdown_work() loading irqfd->vm after hsm_irqfd_shutdown() kfree()s it oopses on a dangling pointer or corrupts the irqfds mutex/list; the EPOLLHUP work versus deassign kfree race in the commit is a Service VM kernel panic even without a successful spray.