Skip to content
OpenAdvisories
Unscored CVE-2026-98719 EUVD-2026-103973GHSA-j294-cf74-gq7q

KVM: SEV: Nullify "have run CPUs" mask pointer when freeing it

Published Oct 18, 2026 · Updated Oct 19, 2026 · Assigned by Linux

Vendor: Linux Product: Linux Package: linux Package: linux Package: linux-allwinner-5.19 Package: linux-aws Package: linux-aws-5.0 Package: linux-aws-5.11 Package: linux-aws-5.13 Package: linux-aws-5.19 Package: linux-aws-5.3 Package: linux-aws-5.8 Package: linux-aws-6.14 Package: linux-aws-6.17 Package: linux-aws-6.2 Package: linux-aws-6.5 Package: linux-azure Package: linux-azure-5.11 Package: linux-azure-5.13 Package: linux-azure-5.19 Package: linux-azure-5.3 Package: linux-azure-5.8 Package: linux-azure-6.11 Package: linux-azure-6.14 Package: linux-azure-6.17 Package: linux-azure-6.2 Package: linux-azure-6.5 Package: linux-azure-edge Package: linux-azure-fde Package: linux-azure-fde-5.19 Package: linux-azure-fde-6.14 Package: linux-azure-fde-6.17 Package: linux-azure-fde-6.2 Package: linux-azure-nvidia-6.14 Package: linux-gcp Package: linux-gcp-5.11 Package: linux-gcp-5.13 Package: linux-gcp-5.19 Package: linux-gcp-5.3 Package: linux-gcp-5.8 Package: linux-gcp-6.11 Package: linux-gcp-6.14 Package: linux-gcp-6.17 Package: linux-gcp-6.2 Package: linux-gcp-6.5 Package: linux-gke Package: linux-gke-4.15 Package: linux-gke-5.15 Package: linux-gke-5.4 Package: linux-gkeop Package: linux-gkeop-5.15 Package: linux-gkeop-5.4 Package: linux-hwe Package: linux-hwe-5.11 Package: linux-hwe-5.13 Package: linux-hwe-5.19 Package: linux-hwe-5.8 Package: linux-hwe-6.11 Package: linux-hwe-6.14 Package: linux-hwe-6.2 Package: linux-hwe-6.5 Package: linux-hwe-7.0 Package: linux-hwe-edge Package: linux-ibm Package: linux-intel-5.13 Package: linux-intel-iot-realtime Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-5.19 Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.11 Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.2 Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.5 Package: linux-nvidia-6.11 Package: linux-nvidia-6.17 Package: linux-nvidia-6.2 Package: linux-nvidia-6.5 Package: linux-oem Package: linux-oem-5.10 Package: linux-oem-5.13 Package: linux-oem-5.14 Package: linux-oem-5.17 Package: linux-oem-5.6 Package: linux-oem-6.0 Package: linux-oem-6.1 Package: linux-oem-6.11 Package: linux-oem-6.14 Package: linux-oem-6.5 Package: linux-oem-6.8 Package: linux-oem-7.0 Package: linux-oracle Package: linux-oracle-5.0 Package: linux-oracle-5.11 Package: linux-oracle-5.13 Package: linux-oracle-5.3 Package: linux-oracle-5.8 Package: linux-oracle-6.14 Package: linux-oracle-6.17 Package: linux-oracle-6.5 Package: linux-raspi-realtime Package: linux-raspi2 Package: linux-realtime Package: linux-realtime-6.14 Package: linux-realtime-6.17 Package: linux-riscv Package: linux-riscv-5.11 Package: linux-riscv-5.19 Package: linux-riscv-5.8 Package: linux-riscv-6.14 Package: linux-riscv-6.17 Package: linux-riscv-6.5 Package: linux-riscv-7.0 Package: linux-starfive-5.19 Package: linux-starfive-6.2 Package: linux-starfive-6.5 Package: linux-vmware Platform: Linux Ecosystem: Debian Ecosystem: Ubuntu

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

KVM: SEV: Nullify "have run CPUs" mask pointer when freeing it

Nullify have_run_cpus when freeing the mask, particularly in the error path
of __sev_guest_init(), so that KVM doesn't have to subtly use sev->active
to track whether or not the mask has been freed. As pointed out by Sashiko,
blindly freeing the mask in sev_vm_destroy() results in a double-free if
the mask is freed if __sev_guest_init() fails.

Throw the logic in a helper as nullifying the pointer is frustratingly
difficult and weird due to have_run_cpus being a single-entry array when
CPUMASK_OFFSTACK=n. Deliberately don't use CPUMASK_VAR_NULL, as it's not
directly assignable when the cpumask is on-stack, e.g. requires using a
local variable and a memcpy(), which is beyond ridiculous. Furthermore,
while clearing the on-stack bitmask is an unnecessary and arguably unwanted
side effect, KVM absolutely relies on '0' being the "null" value given that
the struct is zero-allocated.

Opportunistically add an alloc() helper to pair with free(); there are just
enough call sites to make doing so worthwhile.

Affected products

VendorProductAffectedFixed
Linux Linux 6.18.55 – < 6.18.56, 7.2.9 – < 7.2.10 6.18.56

Fixed in Linux distributions

Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.

ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Debian 14 linux 7.2.10-1 —
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu 26.04 LTS linux 7.0.0-43.43 USN-9018-1
Ubuntu 26.04 LTS linux-aws 7.0.0-1017.18 USN-9018-1
Ubuntu 26.04 LTS linux-azure 7.0.0-1020.21 USN-9019-1
Ubuntu 26.04 LTS linux-gcp 7.0.0-1017.19 USN-9018-1
Ubuntu 26.04 LTS linux-ibm +1 7.0.0-1018.18 USN-9018-1
Ubuntu 26.04 LTS linux-oracle 7.0.0-1016.18 USN-9018-1
Ubuntu 26.04 LTS linux-riscv No fix yet —
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-hwe-7.0 7.0.0-43.43~24.04.1 USN-9018-2
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-riscv +25 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-riscv-7.0 7.0.0-43.43.1~24.04.2 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-riscv +32 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-gke +28 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS linux-gcp +14 No fix yet —
Show 2 more (older releases, extended support, other products)
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu 16.04 LTS linux-hwe-edge No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro Realtime 24.04 LTS linux-realtime-6.14 +1 No fix yet —

Advisories 4

References