Read the docs
TI-2026-18635 Aliases CVE-2026-23198GHSA-68jg-6v9h-662h

KVM: Don't clobber irqfd routing type when deassigning irqfd

Priority LOW 35CWE-416Published · Updated

Key facts

Attack vector
Local
Privileges required
Low
User interaction
None
Attack complexity
Low
Impact type
Code execution, Denial of service
Confidentiality · integrity · availability
High · High · High
Fix status
Fixed

Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA. Impact type from CWE-416, CWE-476 and the CVSS impact.

Summary

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: KVM: Don't clobber irqfd routing type when deassigning irqfd When deassigning a KVM_IRQFD, don't clobber the irqfd's copy of the IRQ's routing entry as doing so breaks kvm_arch_irq_bypass_del_producer() on x86 and arm64, which explicitly look for KVM_IRQ_ROUTING_MSI. Instead, to handle a concurrent routing update, verify that the irqfd is still active before consuming the routing information. As evidenced by the x86 and arm64 bugs, and another bug in kvm_arch_update_irqfd_routing() (see below), clobbering the entry type without notifying arch code is surprising and error prone. As a bonus, checking that the irqfd is active provides a convenient location for documenting _why_ KVM must not consume the routing entry for an irqfd that is in the process of being deassigned: once the irqfd is deleted from the list (which happens *before* the eventfd is detached), it will no longer receive updates via kvm_irq_routing_update(), and so KVM could deliver an event using stale routing information (relative to KVM_SET_GSI_ROUTING returning to userspace). As an even better bonus, explicitly checking for the irqfd being active fixes a similar bug to the one the clobbering is trying to prevent: if an irqfd is deactivated, and then its routing is changed, kvm_irq_routing_update() won't invoke kvm_arch_update_irqfd_routing() (because the irqfd isn't in the list). And so if the irqfd is in bypass mode, IRQs will continue to be posted using the old routing information. As for kvm_arch_irq_bypass_del_producer(), clobbering the routing type results in KVM incorrectly keeping the IRQ in bypass mode, which is especially problematic on AMD as KVM tracks IRQs that are being posted to a vCPU in a list whose lifetime is tied to the irqfd. Without the help of KASAN to detect use-after-free, the most common sympton on AMD is a NULL pointer deref in amd_iommu_update_ga() due to the memory for irqfd structure being re-allocated and zeroed, resulting in irqfd->irq_bypass_data being NULL when read by avic_update_iommu_vcpu_affinity(): BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000018 #PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode #PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present page PGD 40cf2b9067 P4D 40cf2b9067 PUD 408362a067 PMD 0 Oops: Oops: 0000 [#1] SMP CPU: 6 UID: 0 PID: 40383 Comm: vfio_irq_test Tainted: G U W O 6.19.0-smp--5dddc257e6b2-irqfd #31 NONE Tainted: [U]=USER, [W]=WARN, [O]=OOT_MODULE Hardware name: Google, Inc. Arcadia_IT_80/Arcadia_IT_80, BIOS 34.78.2-0 09/05/2025 RIP: 0010:amd_iommu_update_ga+0x19/0xe0 Call Trace: <TASK> avic_update_iommu_vcpu_affinity+0x3d/0x90 [kvm_amd] __avic_vcpu_load+0xf4/0x130 [kvm_amd] kvm_arch_vcpu_load+0x89/0x210 [kvm] vcpu_load+0x30/0x40 [kvm] kvm_arch_vcpu_ioctl_run+0x45/0x620 [kvm] kvm_vcpu_ioctl+0x571/0x6a0 [kvm] __se_sys_ioctl+0x6d/0xb0 do_syscall_64+0x6f/0x9d0 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x4b/0x53 RIP: 0033:0x46893b </TASK> ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]--- If AVIC is inhibited when the irfd is deassigned, the bug will manifest as list corruption, e.g. on the next irqfd assignment. list_add corruption. next->prev should be prev (ffff8d474d5cd588), but was 0000000000000000. (next=ffff8d8658f86530). ------------[ cut here ]------------ kernel BUG at lib/list_debug.c:31! Oops: invalid opcode: 0000 [#1] SMP CPU: 128 UID: 0 PID: 80818 Comm: vfio_irq_test Tainted: G U W O 6.19.0-smp--f19dc4d680ba-irqfd #28 NONE Tainted: [U]=USER, [W]=WARN, [O]=OOT_MODULE Hardware name: Google, Inc. Arcadia_IT_80/Arcadia_IT_80, BIOS 34.78.2-0 09/05/2025 RIP: 0010:__list_add_valid_or_report+0x97/0xc0 Call Trace: <TASK> avic_pi_update_irte+0x28e/0x2b0 [kvm_amd] kvm_pi_update_irte+0xbf/0x190 [kvm] kvm_arch_irq_bypass_add_producer+0x72/0x90 [kvm] irq_bypass_register_consumer+0xcd/0x170 [irqbypa ---truncated---

Why it matters now

Exploitation None reported CISA SSVC · not in CISA KEV
EPSS 0.00146 3rd percentileScored 2026-11-07
Fix Fixed Linux (Linux): 5.10.250, 5.15.200, 6.1.163 +4

SSVC decision points

CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3

Exploitation
None
Automatable
No
Technical impact
Total

The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.

Affected products

VendorProductAffected versionsFixed inStatusSource
LinuxLinux4.4 and later5.10.250, 5.15.200, 6.1.163, 6.6.124, 6.12.70, 6.18.10, 6.19Patch availableCNA
  • Linux VendorLinux Affected 4.4 and later Fixed in 5.10.250, 5.15.200, 6.1.163, 6.6.124, 6.12.70, 6.18.10, 6.19 Patch available CNA

CPE configurations NVD · 9

CPEVersionsRoleVendor
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*4.4 to before 5.10.250; 5.11 to before 5.15.200; 5.16 to before 6.1.163; 6.2 to before 6.6.124; 6.7 to before 6.12.70; 6.13 to before 6.18.10VulnerableLinux
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.19:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*6.19 rc1VulnerableLinux
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.19:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*6.19 rc2VulnerableLinux
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.19:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:*6.19 rc3VulnerableLinux
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.19:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:*6.19 rc4VulnerableLinux
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.19:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:*6.19 rc5VulnerableLinux
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.19:rc6:*:*:*:*:*:*6.19 rc6VulnerableLinux
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.19:rc7:*:*:*:*:*:*6.19 rc7VulnerableLinux
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.19:rc8:*:*:*:*:*:*6.19 rc8VulnerableLinux
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 4.4 to before 5.10.250; 5.11 to before 5.15.200; 5.16 to before 6.1.163; 6.2 to before 6.6.124; 6.7 to before 6.12.70; 6.13 to before 6.18.10 Vulnerable ·Linux
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.19:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.19 rc1 Vulnerable ·Linux
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.19:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.19 rc2 Vulnerable ·Linux
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.19:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.19 rc3 Vulnerable ·Linux
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.19:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.19 rc4 Vulnerable ·Linux
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.19:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.19 rc5 Vulnerable ·Linux
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.19:rc6:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.19 rc6 Vulnerable ·Linux
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.19:rc7:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.19 rc7 Vulnerable ·Linux
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.19:rc8:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.19 rc8 Vulnerable ·Linux

Remediation

  • Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 5.10.250, 5.15.200, 6.1.163, 6.6.124, 6.12.70, 6.18.10, 6.19

Vendor assessments

Red Hat

Red Hat rating: Important. Red Hat's page for this CVE →

Not affected: 5 products
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9

Timeline

  1. 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-23198
  2. 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-68jg-6v9h-662h
  3. 2026-10-19 Weakness changed · CISA ADP

References

  • TI-2025-26358 tls: fix handling of zero-length records on the rx_list KEVCVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
  • TI-2026-38352 netfilter: bridge: make ebt_snat ARP rewrite writable KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
  • TI-2013-05264 The (1) get_user and (2) put_user API functions in the Linux kernel before 3.5.5 on the… KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
  • TI-2022-00125 Integer overflow in kernel KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.4
  • TI-2013-01864 The perf_swevent_init function in kernel/events/core.c in the Linux kernel before 3.8.9… KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.4
  • TI-2021-05514 Heap Out-Of-Bounds Write in Netfilter IP6T_SO_SET_REPLACE KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.3
See all 15278 →

Sources