CVE-2026-99082
Received
Received - Intake
Memory Corruption in Linux Kernel KVM Module
Vulnerability report for CVE-2026-99082, including description, CVSS score, EPSS score, affected products, exploitability, helpful resources, and attack-flow context.
Publication date: 2026-10-23
Last updated on: 2026-10-23
Assigner: kernel.org
Description
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.
CVSS Scores
EPSS Scores
| Probability: | |
| Percentile: |
Meta Information
Affected Vendors & Products
| Vendor | Product | Version / Range |
|---|---|---|
| Linux | Linux | 699023e239658e62da6f42f47d31b54788521ec1 |
| Linux | Linux | 699023e239658e62da6f42f47d31b54788521ec1 |
| Linux | Linux | 699023e239658e62da6f42f47d31b54788521ec1 |
| Linux | Linux | 699023e239658e62da6f42f47d31b54788521ec1 |
| Linux | Linux | 699023e239658e62da6f42f47d31b54788521ec1 |
| Linux | Linux | 4.2 |
Helpful Resources
Exploitability
CWE
KEV
| CWE ID | Description |
|---|---|
| CWE-UNKNOWN |
