VulnerabilityPublished 25 Sep 2026Updated 21 Oct 2026

CVE-2026-97988: Linux kernel · vhost: invalidate vring access on IOTLB transitions

Affects Linux kernelSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · fixed in e8fe13c14d57cc7c6bd69c72c5fabaaf0d918f98 : update Linux kernel when convenient.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 13:47 UTC

Severity

Unrated

Rated by Threat Radar · CVSS not yet scored by NVD

EPSS: 0.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 6% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in e8fe13c14d57cc7c6bd69c72c5fabaaf0d918f98, e4f4761879a230aa59e569102a6ab9851847d833, 021bf73731f7aa94540a549cf850db5968019960 +2

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 25 Sep 2026
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 26 Oct 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Upgrade to a fixed release listed under Affected software.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
LinuxLinux	Affected ≥ 6b1e6cc7855b09a0a9bfa1d9f30172ba366f161c, < e8fe13c14d57cc7c6bd69c72c5fabaaf0d918f98	Fixed in e8fe13c14d57cc7c6bd69c72c5fabaaf0d918f98
LinuxLinux	Affected ≥ 6b1e6cc7855b09a0a9bfa1d9f30172ba366f161c, < e4f4761879a230aa59e569102a6ab9851847d833	Fixed in e4f4761879a230aa59e569102a6ab9851847d833
LinuxLinux	Affected ≥ 6b1e6cc7855b09a0a9bfa1d9f30172ba366f161c, < 021bf73731f7aa94540a549cf850db5968019960	Fixed in 021bf73731f7aa94540a549cf850db5968019960
LinuxLinux	Affected ≥ 6b1e6cc7855b09a0a9bfa1d9f30172ba366f161c, < 7f8ee0b8f632441aec456a7c147fb43f5c73542d	Fixed in 7f8ee0b8f632441aec456a7c147fb43f5c73542d
LinuxLinux	Affected ≥ 6b1e6cc7855b09a0a9bfa1d9f30172ba366f161c, < 4a454af8e56c1596ada1421ae5eba90c8896c7c7	Fixed in 4a454af8e56c1596ada1421ae5eba90c8896c7c7
LinuxLinux	Affected =4.8	Fixed in–

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: vhost: invalidate vring access on IOTLB transitions When VIRTIO_F_ACCESS_PLATFORM changes, cached vring pointers and IOTLB metadata are interpreted in a different address space. Keeping them across the transition can leave stale ring mappings in use. Clearing d->iotlb before taking the VQ locks also lets a worker observe a transient NULL d->iotlb and fall back to d->umem while translating a descriptor. Add a common vhost_clear_device_iotlb() helper for vhost-net and vhost-vsock. Take all VQ mutexes in index order before dropping the device-wide IOTLB, invalidate each VQ's cached ring access and metadata, clear pending IOTLB messages, and free the old table after the handoff. This serializes the transition with workers and prevents mixed address space mappings. On the first direct-to-IOTLB transition, invalidate the cached vring addresses. When an existing device IOTLB is replaced, preserve the GIOVA ring addresses and reset only the metadata cache. After clearing ACCESS_PLATFORM, userspace must configure the vring addresses for the new address mode. vhost_vq_invalidate_access() clears desc, avail, and used together. Treat the VQ as invalidated only when all three are NULL, since a single GIOVA address may legitimately be zero.

References

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