KVM: arm64: vgic: Handle race between interrupt affinity change and LPI disabling
Affects the Linux kernel KVM arm64 vGIC from 4.8.0 until fixed in 6.6.160, 6.12.114, 6.18.40 or 7.1.5, depending on branch.
- Published
- Last modified
- Where the record stands: published, rejected by its publisher, or superseded by another id.What do these mean? →
- published
- Whether CISA lists it in its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog: proof that attackers are using it.What do these mean? →
- Not listed in CISA KEV
- How many real-world setups can hit the bug, from the vendor's advisory and CISA data. It does not know your setup.What do these mean? →
- Specific setups only
- Fix
- Fixed in 6.6.160, 6.12.114, 6.18.40, 7.1.5
- Whether working attack code is public (Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei or GitHub). Public code makes attacks easier.What do these mean? →
- None on Exploit-DB, Metasploit or GitHub
- Exploitation: none
- Automatable: no
- Technical impact: total
Summary
The Linux kernel's KVM virtualization support for arm64 systems, specifically its virtual interrupt controller (vGIC) handling of LPI interrupts, is affected. A race condition between changing an interrupt's CPU affinity and disabling LPIs on a virtual CPU can lead to a use-after-free of an interrupt structure, which could crash the host or allow memory corruption.
Summarized by anthropic/claude-haiku-5.5. Verify details against the original sources.
Read the original description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: KVM: arm64: vgic: Handle race between interrupt affinity change and LPI disabling Hyunwoo Kim reports some really bad races should the following situation occur: • LPI-I is pending in vcpu-B's AP list • vcpu-A writes to vcpu-B's RD to disable its LPIs • vcpu-C moves I from B to C If the last two race nicely enough, vgic_prune_ap_list() can drop the irq and AP list locks, reacquire them, and in the interval the irq has been freed. UAF follows. The fix is two-fold: • Before dropping the irq and ap_list locks, take a reference on the irq • Do not try to handle migration of the pending bit: there is no expectation that this state is retained, as per the architecture With that, we're sure that the interrupt is still around, and we safely remove it from the AP list as it has no target at this stage (unless another interrupt fires, but that's another story).
Timeline
- CVE published
- CISA SSVC assessment
Exploitation: none · Automatable: no · Technical impact: total
- Record last updated
Affected versions
- Linux Linux
Version range not reported
- Linux Linux
4.8
- KernelLinux
From 4.8.0 · fixed in 6.6.160; From 6.7.0 · fixed in 6.12.114; From 6.13.0 · fixed in 6.18.40; From 6.19.0 · fixed in 7.1.5
References 6
git.kernel.org
Questions about CVE-2026-72288
What does this mean?
The bug is a race between moving an interrupt from one virtual CPU to another and disabling that interrupt's LPIs through another virtual CPU's redistributor. The race can free an interrupt structure while it is still in use, causing a use-after-free in the KVM arm64 vGIC.Source: git.kernel.org
Am I affected, and how do I check?
The affected kernel ranges are 4.8.0 up to 6.6.160, 6.7.0 up to 6.12.114, 6.13.0 up to 6.18.40, and 6.19.0 up to 7.1.5. To check a system, run uname -r to get the kernel version, and check whether it runs KVM on arm64 hosts with virtual GICv3 LPIs.Source: git.kernel.org
What should I do about it?
Update to the fixed release for your branch: 6.6.160, 6.12.114, 6.18.40, or 7.1.5 or later.Source: git.kernel.org
Is it being exploited?
It is not in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, and CISA's SSVC assessment does not mark exploitation as active. That does not mean it has not been attacked: vendors and researchers can report attacks before CISA lists them. No public exploit code is tracked.Source: cve.now feed data