FKIE_CVE-2026-89960
Vulnerability from fkie_nvd - Published: 2026-09-16 11:17 - Updated: 2026-09-16 15:18
Severity
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
s390/vfio-ap: fix stale pqap_hook pointer on error in vfio_ap_mdev_set_kvm()
In vfio_ap_mdev_set_kvm(), kvm->arch.crypto.pqap_hook is set to
&matrix_mdev->pqap_hook before the update locks are acquired and the
mdev list is checked for a conflicting assignment. If another mdev is
already attached to the same KVM instance, the function returns -EPERM
without restoring the hook pointer, leaving kvm->arch.crypto.pqap_hook
pointing at the failing matrix_mdev instead of the mdev that legitimately
owns the KVM.
Since matrix_mdev->kvm is never set on this error path,
vfio_ap_mdev_unset_kvm() will not clean up the hook when matrix_mdev
is later closed. If matrix_mdev is subsequently freed, any PQAP
instruction executed by the guest will dereference the stale pointer
through pqap_hook_rwsem, resulting in a use-after-free.
Since kvm->arch.crypto.pqap_hook is only set in the vfio_ap_mdev_set_kvm()
function and is cleared in the vfio_ap_mdev_unset_kvm() function, a check
for 'kvm->arch.crypto.pqap_hook != NULL' is all that is needed to determine
whether it belongs to another mdev. This will alleviate the need to iterate
the matrix_dev->mdev_list list to see if the kvm object is assigned to
another mdev.This was introduced in v3 to alleviate the need to take the
mdevs_lock while iterating the list; however, this did not prevent a
potential race condition.
The pqap_hook_rwsem(write) is now performed inside
get_update_locks_for_kvm(), which is updated to acquire
pqap_hook_rwsem(write) between kvm->lock and mdevs_lock. This ordering
is consistent with the PQAP intercept path, which acquires pqap_hook_rwsem
in read mode while srcu is held under vcpu->mutex, establishing the
dependency: kvm->lock -> vcpu->mutex -> srcu -> pqap_hook_rwsem(read).
The pqap_hook_rwsem is now released inside the
release_update_locks_for_kvm(), which is updated to release
pqap_hook_rwsem(write) between mdevs_lock and kvm->lock.
Additionally, kvm_put_kvm() in vfio_ap_mdev_unset_kvm() is moved
after release_update_locks_for_kvm(). Previously it was called while
kvm->lock was held; if it were ever the last reference, kvm_destroy_vm()
would run under kvm->lock, which would deadlock.
References
Impacted products
| Vendor | Product | Version |
|---|
{
"affected": [
{
"affectedData": [
{
"defaultStatus": "unaffected",
"product": "Linux",
"programFiles": [
"drivers/s390/crypto/vfio_ap_ops.c"
],
"repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
"vendor": "Linux",
"versions": [
{
"lessThan": "eb6cc898501a004c0fa8aab951351d9c959b91cc",
"status": "affected",
"version": "86956e70761b3292156d668e87126844334dd71b",
"versionType": "git"
},
{
"lessThan": "6a180adafc2a8a5fbe815985c71b2201e93ab5e1",
"status": "affected",
"version": "86956e70761b3292156d668e87126844334dd71b",
"versionType": "git"
},
{
"lessThan": "fc069d00a0dbef40042fd681554d48dcd5a1d524",
"status": "affected",
"version": "86956e70761b3292156d668e87126844334dd71b",
"versionType": "git"
},
{
"lessThan": "13bfc94eef389bd664ffc67b00184919902c938a",
"status": "affected",
"version": "86956e70761b3292156d668e87126844334dd71b",
"versionType": "git"
},
{
"lessThan": "4400270ec0348d05dc0439d8f0130853ce7f9e20",
"status": "affected",
"version": "86956e70761b3292156d668e87126844334dd71b",
"versionType": "git"
}
]
},
{
"defaultStatus": "affected",
"product": "Linux",
"programFiles": [
"drivers/s390/crypto/vfio_ap_ops.c"
],
"repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
"vendor": "Linux",
"versions": [
{
"status": "affected",
"version": "5.15"
},
{
"lessThan": "5.15",
"status": "unaffected",
"version": "0",
"versionType": "semver"
},
{
"lessThanOrEqual": "6.6.*",
"status": "unaffected",
"version": "6.6.157",
"versionType": "semver"
},
{
"lessThanOrEqual": "6.12.*",
"status": "unaffected",
"version": "6.12.110",
"versionType": "semver"
},
{
"lessThanOrEqual": "6.18.*",
"status": "unaffected",
"version": "6.18.51",
"versionType": "semver"
},
{
"lessThanOrEqual": "7.2.*",
"status": "unaffected",
"version": "7.2.5",
"versionType": "semver"
},
{
"lessThanOrEqual": "*",
"status": "unaffected",
"version": "7.3-rc1",
"versionType": "original_commit_for_fix"
}
]
}
],
"source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67"
}
],
"cveTags": [],
"descriptions": [
{
"lang": "en",
"value": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\ns390/vfio-ap: fix stale pqap_hook pointer on error in vfio_ap_mdev_set_kvm()\n\nIn vfio_ap_mdev_set_kvm(), kvm-\u003earch.crypto.pqap_hook is set to\n\u0026matrix_mdev-\u003epqap_hook before the update locks are acquired and the\nmdev list is checked for a conflicting assignment. If another mdev is\nalready attached to the same KVM instance, the function returns -EPERM\nwithout restoring the hook pointer, leaving kvm-\u003earch.crypto.pqap_hook\npointing at the failing matrix_mdev instead of the mdev that legitimately\nowns the KVM.\n\nSince matrix_mdev-\u003ekvm is never set on this error path,\nvfio_ap_mdev_unset_kvm() will not clean up the hook when matrix_mdev\nis later closed. If matrix_mdev is subsequently freed, any PQAP\ninstruction executed by the guest will dereference the stale pointer\nthrough pqap_hook_rwsem, resulting in a use-after-free.\n\nSince kvm-\u003earch.crypto.pqap_hook is only set in the vfio_ap_mdev_set_kvm()\nfunction and is cleared in the vfio_ap_mdev_unset_kvm() function, a check\nfor \u0027kvm-\u003earch.crypto.pqap_hook != NULL\u0027 is all that is needed to determine\nwhether it belongs to another mdev. This will alleviate the need to iterate\nthe matrix_dev-\u003emdev_list list to see if the kvm object is assigned to\nanother mdev.This was introduced in v3 to alleviate the need to take the\nmdevs_lock while iterating the list; however, this did not prevent a\npotential race condition.\n\nThe pqap_hook_rwsem(write) is now performed inside\nget_update_locks_for_kvm(), which is updated to acquire\npqap_hook_rwsem(write) between kvm-\u003elock and mdevs_lock. This ordering\nis consistent with the PQAP intercept path, which acquires pqap_hook_rwsem\nin read mode while srcu is held under vcpu-\u003emutex, establishing the\ndependency: kvm-\u003elock -\u003e vcpu-\u003emutex -\u003e srcu -\u003e pqap_hook_rwsem(read).\n\nThe pqap_hook_rwsem is now released inside the\nrelease_update_locks_for_kvm(), which is updated to release\npqap_hook_rwsem(write) between mdevs_lock and kvm-\u003elock.\n\nAdditionally, kvm_put_kvm() in vfio_ap_mdev_unset_kvm() is moved\nafter release_update_locks_for_kvm(). Previously it was called while\nkvm-\u003elock was held; if it were ever the last reference, kvm_destroy_vm()\nwould run under kvm-\u003elock, which would deadlock."
}
],
"id": "CVE-2026-89960",
"lastModified": "2026-09-16T15:18:20.560",
"metrics": {
"cvssMetricV31": [
{
"cvssData": {
"attackComplexity": "LOW",
"attackVector": "LOCAL",
"availabilityImpact": "HIGH",
"baseScore": 8.8,
"baseSeverity": "HIGH",
"confidentialityImpact": "HIGH",
"integrityImpact": "HIGH",
"privilegesRequired": "LOW",
"scope": "CHANGED",
"userInteraction": "NONE",
"vectorString": "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H",
"version": "3.1"
},
"exploitabilityScore": 2.0,
"impactScore": 6.0,
"source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
"type": "Secondary"
}
]
},
"published": "2026-09-16T11:17:06.437",
"references": [
{
"source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
"url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/13bfc94eef389bd664ffc67b00184919902c938a"
},
{
"source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
"url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4400270ec0348d05dc0439d8f0130853ce7f9e20"
},
{
"source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
"url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6a180adafc2a8a5fbe815985c71b2201e93ab5e1"
},
{
"source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
"url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/eb6cc898501a004c0fa8aab951351d9c959b91cc"
},
{
"source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
"url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/fc069d00a0dbef40042fd681554d48dcd5a1d524"
}
],
"sourceIdentifier": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
"vulnStatus": "Received"
}
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Sightings
| Author | Source | Type | Date | Other |
|---|
Nomenclature
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The MITRE ATT&CK techniques below are AI-generated suggestions, inferred from the description of the
vulnerability by the CIRCL/vulnerability-attack-technique-classification-roberta-base
model, served locally by ML-Gateway.
They have not been verified by an analyst and are provided for guidance only.
The approach is described in our paper Mapping CVEs to MITRE ATT&CK Techniques: A Curated Gold-Set Classifier and the Limits of LLM-Assisted Label Expansion.
Browse all ATT&CK techniques and the vulnerabilities related to each.
The approach is described in our paper Mapping CVEs to MITRE ATT&CK Techniques: A Curated Gold-Set Classifier and the Limits of LLM-Assisted Label Expansion.
Browse all ATT&CK techniques and the vulnerabilities related to each.
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