Use-after-free in Linux KVM RISC-V timer teardown
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Local
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- —
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- High · High · High
- Fix status
- Fixed
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA.
Summary
The Linux kernel from 5.16 is affected in its RISC-V KVM code. The non-Sstc hrtimer callback clears a flag before its final uses of the vCPU, so teardown can free the vCPU while the callback still runs. A local guest can trigger this during VM shutdown and corrupt host memory, with high impact to confidentiality, integrity and availability. No exploitation is reported.
Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-11-06
Description from the CNA
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: RISC-V: KVM: Synchronize hrtimer callback during teardown The non-Sstc hrtimer callback clears next_set before its final uses of the enclosing vCPU. If teardown observes next_set as false while the callback is still running, kvm_riscv_vcpu_timer_cancel() skips hrtimer_cancel() and kvm_destroy_vcpus() can free the vCPU before the callback enters kvm_riscv_vcpu_set_interrupt(). A guest can arm the timer with SBI TIME and request shutdown with SBI legacy shutdown or SRST. A VMM that honors KVM_EXIT_SYSTEM_EVENT and destroys the VM supplies the teardown side of the race; no post-launch host ioctl is needed to arm or request teardown. On upstream master 62cc90241548, generic KASAN reported: BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in do_raw_spin_lock Write of size 4 at addr ff60000005e58898 kvm_riscv_vcpu_set_interrupt kvm_riscv_vcpu_hrtimer_expired __hrtimer_run_queues hrtimer_interrupt The object was allocated by KVM_CREATE_VCPU and freed concurrently by: kvm_destroy_vcpus kvm_arch_destroy_vm kvm_destroy_vm __fput For deterministic validation, I added mdelay(1000) immediately after the existing next_set = false assignment. This only widens the existing post-clear callback window. A no-delay trace build naturally reached the callback-after-teardown-start/before-deinit ordering in 12 of 200 runs, but 1,500 stock-kernel stress iterations did not produce a KASAN report, so natural reproduction is timing-sensitive. Always invoke hrtimer_cancel() for an initialized timer. Preserve the existing -EINVAL result when the timer is no longer set, but only after synchronizing with a running callback. With this patch, hrtimer_cancel() blocked for the full widened callback window before vCPU destruction. KASAN reported no error in 100 fixed-and-widened runs or 200 fix-only timing-sweep runs.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
Not available: CISA has not published SSVC decision points for this record.
Affected products
Remediation
Update the Linux kernel to 6.1.189, 6.6.158, 6.12.112, 6.18.55, 7.2.9 or 7.3, depending on the release branch in use.
Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-11-06
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 6.1.189, 6.6.158, 6.12.112, 6.18.55, 7.2.9, 7.3
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
Not affected: 7 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
- Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4
- Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 5
Timeline
- 2026-10-18 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-98464
- 2026-10-18 Alias added: GHSA-w23m-4j94-2gwq
- 2026-10-19 Fix available: Linux/[email protected] · CNA
- 2026-10-20 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
- 2026-10-20 CVSS score added · Red Hat
- 2026-10-24 CVSS score added · CNA
- 2026-11-06 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
References
Other 6
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9bdbae64ae0dab93041ebc57ec4e93def793fc2d
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2af03b606aadaaeb386658ef798c79bdcdef87c1
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e66aced74f0122380603c9910a71d77618b28f0e
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ea91f05a55b807ead3166546a2c75f4185ca645f
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/3cc6184bd5920c9685d87f4e260568feba08650d
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/aaad136d56d91252517272b68cd533e5714698d5
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Sources
- CVE-2026-98464 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-98464 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-w23m-4j94-2gwq · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2026-98464 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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