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CVE-2026-98156
drm/virtio: use the DMA API for resource backing on Xen
Published 2026-09-25 (24 days ago) by the Linux kernel CNA. Subsystem drivers/gpu. Debian urgency: not yet assigned.
What to do, per Debian release
Debian's own status for CVE-2026-98156 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 | 7.2.7-1 | Update the kernel and reboot. Fixed in 7.2.7-1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts. |
| Debian unstablesid | fixed | 7.2.7-1 | Update the kernel and reboot. Fixed in 7.2.7-1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts. |
The vulnerability
What the bug is
On a Xen PV domain page addresses bear no relation to the real machine addresses the host would have to use to reach it. virtio_ring.c handles this correctly, vring_use_map_api() returns true for any xen_domain() regardless of VIRTIO_F_ACCESS_PLATFORM. virtio-gpu makes the same decision independently, but its copy looks only at the feature bit: bool use_dma_api = !virtio_has_dma_quirk(vgdev->vdev); QEMU does not set iommu_platform on virtio-vga by default, so VIRTIO_F_ACCESS_PLATFORM is not negotiated, use_dma_api is false, and virtio_gpu_object_shmem_init() describes the framebuffer's backing pages to the host with sg_phys(). Those are guest-physical addresses. In a PV domain they resolve, on the host side, to pages belonging to some other domain, so the host scans out unrelated memory. Move the decision into virtio_gpu_use_dma_api() and give it the xen_domain() check, like vring_use_map_api() has. This additionally enables the dma_sync_sgtable_for_device() calls in virtgpu_vq.c, which are required for correctness whenever swiotlb is in play. Reproduced with a Xen 4.21 PV dom0 nested inside QEMU 8.2 with virtio-vga, on both a distro 6.8 kernel and 6.18 LTS. A PVH dom0 works fine and doesn't need this fix because it is identity-mapped, only PV dom0s are affected.
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/gpu/drm/virtio/virtgpu_drv.h
drivers/gpu/drm/virtio/virtgpu_object.c
drivers/gpu/drm/virtio/virtgpu_vq.c
- What this is
- VIRTIO GPU DRIVERMAINTAINERS section matched on drivers/gpu/drm/virtio/ · dri-devel@lists.freedesktop.org · Maintained
- Kernel module
- virtio_gpu
Check it on the machine
grep -w CONFIG_DRM_VIRTIO_GPU /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.
lsmod | grep -w virtio_gpuPrints a line if that module is loaded right now, and nothing if it is not. One that is not loaded can still be loaded later by anything that needs it.
Show whether Debian builds this, per release
Debian builds this, but not on every flavour. At least one release below builds the code on some of its kernel flavours and not on others, so the answer depends on the architecture and flavour installed.
- bookwormMnot built on amd64/cloud-amd64, arm64/cloud-arm64
- trixie, forky, sidMnot built on amd64/cloud-amd64, arm64/cloud-arm64, s390x/s390x
- M
- a module where it is built at all; some flavours do not build it
- Build switch
- CONFIG_DRM_VIRTIO_GPU
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
- 2026-09-25 (24 days ago)source
- CVSS
- 7.8 high
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:Hsource recompute it - Attack vector
- local (AV:L)source
- EPSS
- 0.13%, higher than 2.6% of all CVEssource
- CISA KEV
- not listedthe KEV catalogue
- Debian urgency
- not yet assignedsource
- Subsystem
- drivers/gpu
Upstream fixes
The versions the CNA records as introducing and fixing this, and the commit for each. source
| Introduced | Fixed in | Commit |
|---|---|---|
| 4.20 | 6.18.53 | 93c557e947ef |
| 4.20 | 7.2.7 | 455184dbe965 |
| 4.20 | 7.3 | 6a736d2f9d0c |
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 attacker is a local process in the Xen PV dom0. It opens the virtio-gpu render node and calls VIRTGPU_RESOURCE_CREATE, which runs virtio_gpu_object_shmem_init(), and then VIRTGPU_TRANSFER_TO_HOST or TRANSFER_FROM_HOST. No remote peer supplies the bad sg_phys() addresses; the guest driver builds them itself.
- AC:HAttack complexity, high
- The bug only exists on a Xen PV dom0 nested inside QEMU with virtio-vga and without iommu_platform, so VIRTIO_F_ACCESS_PLATFORM is not negotiated. This is a rare deployment the attacker cannot create. The attacker also cannot choose which foreign machine frames the pseudo-physical pfns resolve to.
- PR:LPrivileges required, low
- VIRTGPU_RESOURCE_CREATE, TRANSFER_TO_HOST and TRANSFER_FROM_HOST are all marked DRM_RENDER_ALLOW. Any user with access to /dev/dri/renderD* (render group or a logind seat ACL) can reach them without root.
- UI:NUser interaction, none
- The attacker creates the resource and issues the transfer ioctls entirely on their own. No other user has to act.
- S:CScope, changed
- virtio_gpu_object_shmem_init() hands the host guest-pseudo-physical addresses, which the host resolves to machine frames owned by other Xen domains or by Xen itself. So a flaw in the dom0 driver affects memory outside that domain's security authority.
- C:HConfidentiality impact, high
- virtio_gpu_cmd_transfer_to_host_2d/3d make the host copy unrelated machine pages (other domains' memory) into a host resource, which is then scanned out. With virgl, the attacker could plausibly copy that resource into memory they can read back.
- I:HIntegrity impact, high
- With virgl, VIRTGPU_TRANSFER_FROM_HOST makes the host write resource data to the wrong backing addresses. Those addresses are machine frames belonging to other domains or the hypervisor, so this is an uncontrolled cross-domain memory write.
- A:HAvailability impact, high
- Host writes into foreign machine frames through the bad backing entries can corrupt Xen or other domains' memory, crashing them. The unsynced swiotlb path (missing dma_sync_sgtable_for_device) also corrupts display data.