GHSA-R3WW-97X6-6H4V
Vulnerability from github – Published: 2026-04-01 09:31 – Updated: 2026-04-24 15:32In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
KVM: x86/mmu: Only WARN in direct MMUs when overwriting shadow-present SPTE
Adjust KVM's sanity check against overwriting a shadow-present SPTE with a another SPTE with a different target PFN to only apply to direct MMUs, i.e. only to MMUs without shadowed gPTEs. While it's impossible for KVM to overwrite a shadow-present SPTE in response to a guest write, writes from outside the scope of KVM, e.g. from host userspace, aren't detected by KVM's write tracking and so can break KVM's shadow paging rules.
------------[ cut here ]------------ pfn != spte_to_pfn(*sptep) WARNING: arch/x86/kvm/mmu/mmu.c:3069 at mmu_set_spte+0x1e4/0x440 [kvm], CPU#0: vmx_ept_stale_r/872 Modules linked in: kvm_intel kvm irqbypass CPU: 0 UID: 1000 PID: 872 Comm: vmx_ept_stale_r Not tainted 7.0.0-rc2-eafebd2d2ab0-sink-vm #319 PREEMPT Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS 0.0.0 02/06/2015 RIP: 0010:mmu_set_spte+0x1e4/0x440 [kvm] Call Trace: ept_page_fault+0x535/0x7f0 [kvm] kvm_mmu_do_page_fault+0xee/0x1f0 [kvm] kvm_mmu_page_fault+0x8d/0x620 [kvm] vmx_handle_exit+0x18c/0x5a0 [kvm_intel] kvm_arch_vcpu_ioctl_run+0xc55/0x1c20 [kvm] kvm_vcpu_ioctl+0x2d5/0x980 [kvm] __x64_sys_ioctl+0x8a/0xd0 do_syscall_64+0xb5/0x730 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x4b/0x53 ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]---
{
"affected": [],
"aliases": [
"CVE-2026-23402"
],
"database_specific": {
"cwe_ids": [],
"github_reviewed": false,
"github_reviewed_at": null,
"nvd_published_at": "2026-04-01T09:16:15Z",
"severity": "MODERATE"
},
"details": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nKVM: x86/mmu: Only WARN in direct MMUs when overwriting shadow-present SPTE\n\nAdjust KVM\u0027s sanity check against overwriting a shadow-present SPTE with a\nanother SPTE with a different target PFN to only apply to direct MMUs,\ni.e. only to MMUs without shadowed gPTEs. While it\u0027s impossible for KVM\nto overwrite a shadow-present SPTE in response to a guest write, writes\nfrom outside the scope of KVM, e.g. from host userspace, aren\u0027t detected\nby KVM\u0027s write tracking and so can break KVM\u0027s shadow paging rules.\n\n ------------[ cut here ]------------\n pfn != spte_to_pfn(*sptep)\n WARNING: arch/x86/kvm/mmu/mmu.c:3069 at mmu_set_spte+0x1e4/0x440 [kvm], CPU#0: vmx_ept_stale_r/872\n Modules linked in: kvm_intel kvm irqbypass\n CPU: 0 UID: 1000 PID: 872 Comm: vmx_ept_stale_r Not tainted 7.0.0-rc2-eafebd2d2ab0-sink-vm #319 PREEMPT\n Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS 0.0.0 02/06/2015\n RIP: 0010:mmu_set_spte+0x1e4/0x440 [kvm]\n Call Trace:\n \u003cTASK\u003e\n ept_page_fault+0x535/0x7f0 [kvm]\n kvm_mmu_do_page_fault+0xee/0x1f0 [kvm]\n kvm_mmu_page_fault+0x8d/0x620 [kvm]\n vmx_handle_exit+0x18c/0x5a0 [kvm_intel]\n kvm_arch_vcpu_ioctl_run+0xc55/0x1c20 [kvm]\n kvm_vcpu_ioctl+0x2d5/0x980 [kvm]\n __x64_sys_ioctl+0x8a/0xd0\n do_syscall_64+0xb5/0x730\n entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x4b/0x53\n \u003c/TASK\u003e\n ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]---",
"id": "GHSA-r3ww-97x6-6h4v",
"modified": "2026-04-24T15:32:20Z",
"published": "2026-04-01T09:31:27Z",
"references": [
{
"type": "ADVISORY",
"url": "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-23402"
},
{
"type": "WEB",
"url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a1e0f7150639bc30a8e75476d1c7daab77d44992"
},
{
"type": "WEB",
"url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/bab090e8fd5607f77379ea78b9d0c683cb1538a9"
},
{
"type": "WEB",
"url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/df83746075778958954aa0460cca55f4b3fc9c02"
}
],
"schema_version": "1.4.0",
"severity": [
{
"score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H",
"type": "CVSS_V3"
}
]
}
Sightings
| Author | Source | Type | Date |
|---|
Nomenclature
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- Not patched: The vulnerability was not observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.