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VulnerabilityPublished Updated

CVE-2026-98464: Linux kernel · RISC-V: KVM: Synchronize hrtimer callback during teardown

Affects Linux kernelSource GCVE Database

0
Authoritative record:CVE-2026-98464· Critical 9.3

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 9.3 Critical.

Data as of 27 Oct 2026, 06:42 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score
9.3Critical
How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

Exploitation evidence

  1. Disclosed: evidence found.

    CVE published 18 Oct 2026

  2. Detectable: no evidence on record.

    No public nuclei template indexed

  3. Weaponised: no evidence on record.

    No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB

  4. Exploited in the wild: no evidence on record.

    Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation

  5. Observed by OffSeq 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.

What to do

Affected software

ProductAffectedFixed in
Ubuntu 26.04 LTSlinuxpkg:deb/ubuntu/linux?arch=source&distro=resoluteOther threatsAffected
  • 6.17.0-5.5 – 7.0.0-38.38
23 affected builds
Fixed in–
Ubuntu 26.04 LTSlinux-awspkg:deb/ubuntu/linux-aws?arch=source&distro=resoluteOther threatsAffected
  • 6.17.0-1002.2 – 7.0.0-1014.14
15 affected builds
Fixed in–
Ubuntu 26.04 LTSlinux-azurepkg:deb/ubuntu/linux-azure?arch=source&distro=resoluteOther threatsAffected
  • 6.17.0-1003.3 – 7.0.0-1017.17
15 affected builds
Fixed in–
Ubuntu 26.04 LTSlinux-azure-fdepkg:deb/ubuntu/linux-azure-fde?arch=source&distro=resoluteOther threatsAffected
  • 7.0.0-1003.3 – 7.0.0-1016.16
9 affected builds
Fixed in–
Ubuntu 26.04 LTSlinux-gcppkg:deb/ubuntu/linux-gcp?arch=source&distro=resoluteOther threatsAffected
  • 6.17.0-1002.2 – 7.0.0-1014.14
13 affected builds
Fixed in–
Ubuntu 26.04 LTSlinux-gkepkg:deb/ubuntu/linux-gke?arch=source&distro=resoluteOther threatsAffected
  • 7.0.0-1002.3 – 7.0.0-1008.9
6 affected builds
Fixed in–

Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: RISC-V: KVM: Synchronize hrtimer callback during teardown The non-Sstc hrtimer callback clears next_set before its final uses of the enclosing vCPU. If teardown observes next_set as false while the callback is still running, kvm_riscv_vcpu_timer_cancel() skips hrtimer_cancel() and kvm_destroy_vcpus() can free the vCPU before the callback enters kvm_riscv_vcpu_set_interrupt(). A guest can arm the timer with SBI TIME and request shutdown with SBI legacy shutdown or SRST. A VMM that honors KVM_EXIT_SYSTEM_EVENT and destroys the VM supplies the teardown side of the race; no post-launch host ioctl is needed to arm or request teardown. On upstream master 62cc90241548, generic KASAN reported: BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in do_raw_spin_lock Write of size 4 at addr ff60000005e58898 kvm_riscv_vcpu_set_interrupt kvm_riscv_vcpu_hrtimer_expired __hrtimer_run_queues hrtimer_interrupt The object was allocated by KVM_CREATE_VCPU and freed concurrently by: kvm_destroy_vcpus kvm_arch_destroy_vm kvm_destroy_vm __fput For deterministic validation, I added mdelay(1000) immediately after the existing next_set = false assignment. This only widens the existing post-clear callback window. A no-delay trace build naturally reached the callback-after-teardown-start/before-deinit ordering in 12 of 200 runs, but 1,500 stock-kernel stress iterations did not produce a KASAN report, so natural reproduction is timing-sensitive. Always invoke hrtimer_cancel() for an initialized timer. Preserve the existing -EINVAL result when the timer is no longer set, but only after synchronizing with a running callback. With this patch, hrtimer_cancel() blocked for the full widened callback window before vCPU destruction. KASAN reported no error in 100 fixed-and-widened runs or 200 fix-only timing-sweep runs.

References

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