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Fencer Vulns
medium 5.5

CVE-2026-43486 json

arm64: contpte: fix set_access_flags() no-op check for SMMU/ATS faults

published 2026-05-13 5 mo ago modified 2026-06-26 4 mo ago also EUVD-2026-30022

cvss
5.5
version 3.1, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.1%
EPSS 0.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 1%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

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

arm64: contpte: fix set_access_flags() no-op check for SMMU/ATS faults

contpte_ptep_set_access_flags() compared the gathered ptep_get() value against the requested entry to detect no-ops. ptep_get() ORs AF/dirty from all sub-PTEs in the CONT block, so a dirty sibling can make the target appear already-dirty. When the gathered value matches entry, the function returns 0 even though the target sub-PTE still has PTE_RDONLY set in hardware.

For a CPU with FEAT_HAFDBS this gathered view is fine, since hardware may set AF/dirty on any sub-PTE and CPU TLB behavior is effectively gathered across the CONT range. But page-table walkers that evaluate each descriptor individually (e.g. a CPU without DBM support, or an SMMU without HTTU, or with HA/HD disabled in CD.TCR) can keep faulting on the unchanged target sub-PTE, causing an infinite fault loop.

Gathering can therefore cause false no-ops when only a sibling has been updated: - write faults: target still has PTE_RDONLY (needs PTE_RDONLY cleared) - read faults: target still lacks PTE_AF

Fix by checking each sub-PTE against the requested AF/dirty/write state (the same bits consumed by __ptep_set_access_flags()), using raw per-PTE values rather than the gathered ptep_get() view, before returning no-op. Keep using the raw target PTE for the write-bit unfold decision.

Per Arm ARM (DDI 0487) D8.7.1 ("The Contiguous bit"), any sub-PTE in a CONT range may become the effective cached translation and software must maintain consistent attributes across the range.

Patch / fix

  • Linux Linux 6.12.78, 6.18.19, 6.19.9, 7.0
  • linux Debian 13 6.12.85-1
  • linux Debian 14 6.19.10-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2026-43486

  • linux-nvidia Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-1051.54
  • linux-nvidia-6.8 Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 6.8.0-1051.54~22.04.1
  • linux-nvidia-lowlatency Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-1051.54.1

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2026-43486

Ubuntu security data © Canonical Ltd., from https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

  • kernel-default SLES 16.0, SLE High Availability Extension 16.0, Linux Micro 6.2 +1 more 6.12.0-160000.37.1
  • kernel-rt Linux Micro 6.2 6.12.0-160000.37.1
  • kernel-64kb SLES 16.0, Linux Micro 6.2, SLES for SAP applications 16.0 6.12.0-160000.37.1
  • kernel-source SLES 16.0, Linux Micro 6.2, SLES for SAP applications 16.0 6.12.0-160000.37.1
  • kernel-default-base SLES 16.0, Linux Micro 6.2, SLES for SAP applications 16.0 6.12.0-160000.37.1.160000.2.19
  • kernel-syms SLES 16.0, Linux Micro Extras 6.2, SLES for SAP applications 16.0 6.12.0-160000.37.1
  • kernel-azure SLES 16.0, SLES for SAP applications 16.0 6.12.0-160000.37.1
  • kernel-obs-qa SLES 16.0, SLES for SAP applications 16.0 6.12.0-160000.37.1

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2026:23237-1SUSE-SU-2026:23068-1SUSE-SU-2026:23221-1SUSE-SU-2026:23231-1SUSE-SU-2026:23066-1

  • kernel-rt openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.37.1
  • dtb-aarch64 openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.37.1
  • kernel-64kb openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.37.1
  • kernel-syms openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.37.1
  • kernel-azure openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.37.1
  • kernel-obs-qa openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.37.1
  • kernel-source openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.37.1
  • kernel-default openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.37.1

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2026:21555-1

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-2026-43486 updated cvss 5.5

kernel: arm64: contpte: fix set_access_flags() no-op check for SMMU/ATS faults

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 kernel
    affected: no fix available “Fix deferred”
  • 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
    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

0.11% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 1% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
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

Weakness
  • CWE-835 Loop with Unreachable Exit Condition
Technology feeds

References

Sources

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