data built 2026-10-19T13:16:53Z

Look up another CVE · open CVE-2026-98467 in the interactive tracker

CVE-2026-98467

KVM: arm64: nv: Fix null ptr deref on nested wp/unmap, teardown race

Published 2026-10-18 (today) by the Linux kernel CNA. Subsystem arch/arm64. Debian urgency: unimportant.

What to do, per Debian release

Debian's own status for CVE-2026-98467 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

ReleaseStatus VersionWhat this means
Debian 12bookwormnot affected6.1.190-1Nothing to do. bookworm never shipped the vulnerable code.
Debian 13trixienot affected6.12.113-1Nothing to do. trixie never shipped the vulnerable code.
Debian 14forkyfixed7.2.9-1Update the kernel and reboot. Fixed in 7.2.9-1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts.
Debian unstablesidfixed7.2.9-1Update the kernel and reboot. Fixed in 7.2.9-1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts.

The vulnerability

What the bug is

Commit 7270cc9157f4 ("KVM: arm64: nv: Handle VNCR_EL2 invalidation from MMU notifiers") introduced VNCR_EL2 invalidation in both kvm_nested_s2_unmap() and kvm_nested_s2_wp(). However at the point of this being performed concurrent stage 2 teardown of a nested guest can cause kvm->arch.mmu.pgt to be set to NULL. This happens in kvm_flush_shadow_all() -> kvm_arch_flush_shadow_all() -> kvm_free_stage2_pgd() and is performed under the kvm->mmu_lock. Commit ec14c272408a ("KVM: arm64: nv: Unmap/flush shadow stage 2 page tables") introduced the teardown of the entire nested MMU range, which then invokes stage2_apply_range() with resched=true: mmu_notifier_invalidate_range_start() -> ... -> kvm_mmu_notifier_invalidate_range_start() -> kvm_mmu_unmap_gfn_range() -> kvm_unmap_gfn_range() -> kvm_nested_s2_unmap() -> kvm_stage2_unmap_range() -> __unmap_stage2_range() -> stage2_apply_range() This means that stage2_apply_range() can drop the kvm->mmu_lock and thus concurrent progress can be made in lockstep with kvm_arch_flush_shadow_all(). If kvm_arch_flush_shadow_all() advances ahead of stage2_apply_range() and completes its operation it guarantees a NULL pointer deref. Since kvm_free_stage2_pgd() is performed under the kvm->mmu_lock this will either be observed NULL or not and serialised against kvm_free_stage2_pgd(). Resolve the issue by abstracting the invalidation to a new function, kvm_invalidate_vncr_ipa_all(), and check that the pgt is non-NULL before dereferencing it.

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/nested.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
Kernel module
kvm

Check it on the machine

grep -w CONFIG_KVM /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 kvm

Prints 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. The build rule could not be established for 1 release, so nothing is claimed about those.

  • bookworm?
  • trixieBnot built on armel/rpi, armhf/armmp, armhf/armmp-lpae, armhf/rt/armmp
  • forky, sidBnot built on armhf/armmp, armhf/armmp-lpae
?
not established - no Makefile entry for the affected file
B
built in on some, a module on others, absent on the rest

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.

Build switch
CONFIG_KVM

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
2026-10-18 (today)source
CVSS
no vector published, unrated
Attack vector
not published
EPSS
not scored
CISA KEV
not listedthe KEV catalogue
Debian urgency
unimportantsource
Subsystem
arch/arm64

Upstream fixes

The versions the CNA records as introducing and fixing this, and the commit for each. source

IntroducedFixed inCommit
6.166.18.55970de111c087
6.167.2.93cefc1ab511f
6.167.34c74e233cded

Why the CNA scored it this way

The kernel CNA published no CVSS vector and no reasoning for CVE-2026-98467, which is why it is shown as unrated rather than given an invented score. 6,405 of the 20,413 CVEs here carry reasoning; this is not one of them.