CVE-2026-98440
Received Received - Intake

Memory Leak in Linux Kernel KVM ARM64

Publication date: 2026-10-18

Last updated on: 2026-10-18

Assigner: kernel.org

Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: KVM: arm64: nv: Delay freeing of shadow S2 structures until VM destruction We free the shadow S2 structures from kvm_arch_flush_shadow_all(), which is a Bad Idea(tm). Freeing the page tables is fair game (this is what this callback is for), but freeing the container that could still be referenced by another part of the system is not great. Instead, grow separate destructors that gets called when we tear the VM down for good. From there, we can nuke both the individual MMUs as well as the global array that points to them, safe in the knowledge that the vcpus themselves have been destroyed already.

CVSS Scores

EPSS Scores

Probability:
Percentile:

Meta Information

Published
2026-10-18
Last Modified
2026-10-18
Generated
2026-10-18
AI Q&A
2026-10-18
EPSS Evaluated
N/A
NVD
CVE-2026-98440
EUVD
EUVD-2026-103680

Affected Vendors & Products

Showing 5 associated CPEs
Vendor Product Version / Range
Linux Linux 4f128f8e1aaac189f83d0f828bcdb2986d8d2e51
Linux Linux 4f128f8e1aaac189f83d0f828bcdb2986d8d2e51
Linux Linux 4f128f8e1aaac189f83d0f828bcdb2986d8d2e51
Linux Linux 4f128f8e1aaac189f83d0f828bcdb2986d8d2e51
Linux Linux 6.11

Helpful Resources

Exploitability

CWE
CWE Icon
KEV
KEV Icon
CWE ID Description
CWE-UNKNOWN

Attack-Flow Graph

AI Quick Actions

Instant insights powered by AI
Executive Summary

This vulnerability in the Linux kernel involves improper handling of shadow stage-2 (S2) memory structures in KVM for arm64 systems. The issue occurs when freeing these structures too early during VM operations, which can lead to use-after-free scenarios where other parts of the system still reference the freed memory.

Impact Analysis

This vulnerability could allow an attacker with local access to cause a denial of service or potentially execute arbitrary code in the kernel. It may lead to system crashes, data corruption, or privilege escalation if exploited.

Chat Assistant

Ask questions about this CVE
Hi! I’m here to help you understand CVE-2026-98440. Ask me anything about the vulnerability, its impact, or mitigation strategies.
0/70

EPSS Chart