KVM: Don't WARN if memory is dirtied without a vCPU when the VM is dying
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Local
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- Denial of service
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- None · None · High
- Fix status
- Fixed
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · NVD. Fix status from CNA. Impact type from CWE-401.
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: KVM: Don't WARN if memory is dirtied without a vCPU when the VM is dying When marking a page dirty, complain about not having a running/loaded vCPU if and only if the VM is still alive, i.e. its refcount is non-zero. This will allow fixing a memory leak for x86 SEV-ES guests without hitting what is effectively a false positive on the WARN. For some SEV-ES VM-Exits, KVM keeps a writable mapping of a guest page across an exit to userspace, and typically unmaps the page on the next KVM_RUN. But if userspace never calls KVM_RUN after such an exit, then KVM needs to unmap the page when the vCPU is destroyed, which in turn triggers the WARN about not having a running vCPU. Alternatively, SEV-ES could temporarily load the vCPU to suppress the WARN, as is done in nested_vmx_free_vcpu() (but for completely unrelated reasons; suppressing WARN from nested_put_vmcs12_pages() is pure happenstance). But loading a vCPU during destruction is gross (ideally nVMX code would be cleaned up), risks complicating the SEV-ES code (KVM would need to ensure the temporarily load()+put() only runs when the vCPU isn't already loaded), and is ultimately pointless. The motivation for the WARN is to guard against KVM dirtying guest memory without pushing the corresponding GFN to the active vCPU's dirty ring, e.g. to ensure userspace doesn't miss a dirty page. But for the VM's refcount to reach zero, there can't be _any_ userspace mappings to the dirty ring, as mapping the dirty ring requires doing mmap() on the vCPU FD. I.e. if userspace had a valid mapping for the dirty ring, then the vCPU file and thus the owning VM would still be alive. And so since userspace can't possibly reach the dirty ring, whether or not KVM technically "misses" a push to the dirty ring is irrelevant.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- No
- Technical impact
- Partial
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Linux | Linux | 5.17 and later | 6.1.191, 6.6.143, 6.12.94, 6.18.36, 7.0.13, 7.1 | Patch available | CNA |
- Linux VendorLinux Affected 5.17 and later Fixed in 6.1.191, 6.6.143, 6.12.94, 6.18.36, 7.0.13, 7.1 Patch available CNA
CPE configurations NVD · 7
| CPE | Versions | Role | Vendor |
|---|---|---|---|
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | 5.17 to before 6.6.143; 6.7 to before 6.12.94; 6.13 to before 6.18.36; 6.19 to before 7.0.13 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.1:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:* | 7.1 rc1 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.1:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:* | 7.1 rc2 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.1:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:* | 7.1 rc3 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.1:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:* | 7.1 rc4 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.1:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:* | 7.1 rc5 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.1:rc6:*:*:*:*:*:* | 7.1 rc6 | Vulnerable | Linux |
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 5.17 to before 6.6.143; 6.7 to before 6.12.94; 6.13 to before 6.18.36; 6.19 to before 7.0.13 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.1:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 7.1 rc1 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.1:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 7.1 rc2 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.1:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 7.1 rc3 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.1:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 7.1 rc4 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.1:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 7.1 rc5 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.1:rc6:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 7.1 rc6 Vulnerable ·Linux
Remediation
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 6.1.191, 6.6.143, 6.12.94, 6.18.36, 7.0.13, 7.1
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
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
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-53345
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-m28w-5q4v-5m48
- 2026-10-30 Fix available: Linux/Linux@21b880f040bd0e8b50ff30c5a40db7bf3384ff48, Linux/[email protected] · CNA
- 2026-10-30 1 new reference · CNA
- 2026-11-06 CISA SSVC decision points changed
References
Patch 5
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/033d39e41fc30f484f4e4f37fb4cd76b12cbb18e
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/66a8e7ddd901023c89a2733494d827eca3f9c1b0
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/343e95c8ecc40e0738975ef4ee24c0c35e800e6b
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/99d7d43784ae3235026581e9bf892c036e04c8e6
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8618004d3e897c0f1b71d9a9ab860461289bb89a
More Linux Kernel vulnerabilities
- 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
Sources
- CVE-2026-53345 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-53345 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-m28w-5q4v-5m48 · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2026-53345 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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