CVE-2026-46113 Details
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: KVM: x86: Fix shadow paging use-after-free due to unexpected GFN The shadow MMU computes GFNs for direct shadow pages using sp->gfn plus the SPTE index. This assumption breaks for shadow paging if the guest page tables are modified between VM entries (similar to commit aad885e77496, "KVM: x86/mmu: Drop/zap existing present SPTE even when creating an MMIO SPTE", 2026-03-27). The flow is as follows: - a PDE is installed for a 2MB mapping, and a page in that area is accessed. KVM creates a kvm_mmu_page consisting of 512 4KB pages; the kvm_mmu_page is marked by FNAME(fetch) as direct-mapped because the guest's mapping is a huge page (and thus contiguous). - the PDE mapping is changed from outside the guest. - the guest accesses another page in the same 2MB area. KVM installs a new leaf SPTE and rmap entry; the SPTE uses the "correct" GFN (i.e. based on the new mapping, as changed in the previous step) but that GFN is outside of the [sp->gfn, sp->gfn + 511] range; therefore the rmap entry cannot be found and removed when the kvm_mmu_page is zapped. - the memslot that covers the first 2MB mapping is deleted, and the kvm_mmu_page for the now-invalid GPA is zapped. However, rmap_remove() only looks at the [sp->gfn, sp->gfn + 511] range established in step 1, and fails to find the rmap entry that was recorded by step 3. - any operation that causes an rmap walk for the same page accessed by step 3 then walks a stale rmap and dereferences a freed kvm_mmu_page. This includes dirty logging or MMU notifier invalidations (e.g., from MADV_DONTNEED). The underlying issue is that KVM's walking of shadow PTEs assumes that if a SPTE is present when KVM wants to install a non-leaf SPTE, then the existing kvm_mmu_page must be for the correct gfn. Because the only way for the gfn to be wrong is if KVM messed up and failed to zap a SPTE... which shouldn't happen, but *actually* only happens in response to a guest write. That bug dates back literally forever, as even the first version of KVM assumes that the GFN matches and walks into the "wrong" shadow page. However, that was only an imprecision until 2032a93d66fa ("KVM: MMU: Don't allocate gfns page for direct mmu pages") came along. Fix it by checking for a target gfn mismatch and zapping the existing SPTE. That way the old SP and rmap entries are gone, KVM installs the rmap in the right location, and everyone is happy.
A use-after-free vulnerability has been identified in the Linux kernel's KVM module for x86 architecture, specifically within the shadow paging mechanism. This issue arises when the guest page tables are altered between VM entries, leading to a mismatch in the Guest Frame Number (GFN) calculations. The vulnerability allows for the potential dereferencing of freed memory, which can be exploited through operations that trigger a stale reverse mapping walk, such as dirty logging or certain memory management notifications.
Users can upgrade to the latest version of the Linux kernel where this vulnerability has been fixed. Instructions for downloading the patched version can be found in the Linux kernel documentation.
Metrics
CVSS 4.0 Severity and Vector Strings:
No CVSS 4.0 data is available for this CVE.
CVSS 3.x Severity and Vector Strings:
No data available for CVSS Version 2.0 on this CVE.
No SSVC data is available for this CVE.
References to Advisories, Solutions, and Tools
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| URL | Source(s) | Tag(s) |
|---|---|---|
| https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/06c19c967b845b63172601fe459667d973b7e6b7 | kernel.org | Patch |
| https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0cb2af2ea66ad8ff195c156ea690f11216285bdf | kernel.org | Patch |
| https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/14d1e55dfd2cf4711bff164a6aaaddb783552134 | kernel.org | Patch |
| https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/488e386484ec8c0e558be6e156edf34ed9f4d5c8 | kernel.org | Patch |
| https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/738ec97b1855df6c08fe2369f798fa0b972e556b | kernel.org | Patch |
| https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e9d4ea13aa2b6400bb10ec64b370ba3dadcd22f0 | kernel.org | Patch |
Weakness Enumeration
| CWE-ID | CWE Name | Source |
|---|---|---|
| CWE-416 | Use After Free | [email protected] |
Affected Products
| Product | Versions |
|---|---|
| linux linux kernel | >= 2.6.20, < 6.1.175 >= 6.2, < 6.6.140 >= 6.7, < 6.12.88 >= 6.13, < 6.18.30 >= 6.19, < 7.0.7 7.1 rc1 7.1 rc2 |
CPE
Remediation
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Change History
5 change records found show changes
| Date | Action | Recorded By |
|---|---|---|
| Jun 24, 2026 | Initial Analysis | [email protected] |
| Jun 17, 2026 | CVE Modified | kernel.org |
| Jun 1, 2026 | CVE Modified | kernel.org |
| May 30, 2026 | CVE Modified | kernel.org |
| May 28, 2026 | New CVE Received | kernel.org |