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Fencer Vulns
high 8.8

CVE-2026-23425 json

KVM: arm64: Fix ID register initialization for non-protected pKVM guests

published 2026-04-03 7 mo ago modified 2026-08-05 3 mo ago also EUVD-2026-18647

cvss
8.8
version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.1%
EPSS 0.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 2%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

KVM: arm64: Fix ID register initialization for non-protected pKVM guests

In protected mode, the hypervisor maintains a separate instance of the `kvm` structure for each VM. For non-protected VMs, this structure is initialized from the host's `kvm` state.

Currently, `pkvm_init_features_from_host()` copies the `KVM_ARCH_FLAG_ID_REGS_INITIALIZED` flag from the host without the underlying `id_regs` data being initialized. This results in the hypervisor seeing the flag as set while the ID registers remain zeroed.

Consequently, `kvm_has_feat()` checks at EL2 fail (return 0) for non-protected VMs. This breaks logic that relies on feature detection, such as `ctxt_has_tcrx()` for TCR2_EL1 support. As a result, certain system registers (e.g., TCR2_EL1, PIR_EL1, POR_EL1) are not saved/restored during the world switch, which could lead to state corruption.

Fix this by explicitly copying the ID registers from the host `kvm` to the hypervisor `kvm` for non-protected VMs during initialization, since we trust the host with its non-protected guests' features. Also ensure `KVM_ARCH_FLAG_ID_REGS_INITIALIZED` is cleared initially in `pkvm_init_features_from_host` so that `vm_copy_id_regs` can properly initialize them and set the flag once done.

Patch / fix

  • Linux Linux 6.18.17, 6.19.7, 7.0
  • linux Debian 14 6.19.8-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2026-23425

  • kernel-rt Linux Micro 6.2 6.12.0-160000.28.1
  • kernel-64kb Linux Micro 6.2 6.12.0-160000.28.1
  • kernel-source Linux Micro 6.2 6.12.0-160000.28.1
  • kernel-default Linux Micro 6.2 6.12.0-160000.28.1
  • kernel-default-base Linux Micro 6.2 6.12.0-160000.27.1.160000.2.8
  • gdk-pixbuf Linux Micro 6.2 2.42.12-160000.4.1
  • kernel-syms Linux Micro Extras 6.2 6.12.0-160000.28.1
  • kernel-obs-build Linux Micro Extras 6.2 6.12.0-160000.28.1

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2026:21237-1SUSE-SU-2026:21230-1

  • kernel-rt openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.28.1
  • dtb-aarch64 openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.28.1
  • kernel-64kb openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.28.1
  • kernel-syms openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.28.1
  • kernel-azure openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.28.1
  • kernel-obs-qa openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.28.1
  • kernel-source openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.28.1
  • kernel-default openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.28.1

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2026:20572-1

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2026-23425 updated

kernel: KVM: arm64: Fix ID register initialization for non-protected pKVM guests

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 perf, kernel, python-perf, kernel-kdump, kernel-firmware, kernel-bootwrapper, +1 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, python-perf, kernel-kdump, +8 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, kernel-core, kernel-tools, +29 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 rv, perf, rtla, kernel, bpftool, libperf, +83 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 kernel
    not affected: vulnerable code not present

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

Exploit prediction

0.12% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 2% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CNA 3.1 8.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
NVD 3.1 5.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Affected products

  • Linux Linux

Classification

Technology feeds

References

Sources

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.