CVE-2026-74568
KVM: arm64: vgic: Fix race between LPI release and re-registration
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
KVM: arm64: vgic: Fix race between LPI release and re-registration
Fix a potential race between decrementing an LPI's reference count and
evicting that structure from the LPI xarray.
LPI structures are maintained in the VGIC LPI xarray (dist->lpi_xa).
When the reference count of an LPI structure drops to zero,
vgic_release_lpi_locked() removes the structure from the xarray and
frees it under the xarray lock.
However, the release of an LPI can race with a concurrent LPI
re-registration with the same INTID via vgic_add_lpi() on another CPU,
since the reference count drop and the xarray eviction are not performed
in a single atomic step. This can happen e.g. if the guest issues a
DISCARD while the LPI is still referenced from a vCPU's active-pending
list (ap_list), and the same INTID is re-mapped via MAPTI.
Particularly, vgic_release_lpi_locked() is called from two distinct
paths: direct release via vgic_put_irq(), and deferred release via
vgic_release_deleted_lpis(). During direct release, the issue can result
in deleting a newly registered LPI from the xarray:
CPU0 (Releasing LPI) CPU1 (Adding new LPI)
==================== =====================
vgic_put_irq()
__vgic_put_irq()
refcount_dec_and_test()
vgic_add_lpi()
xa_lock_irqsave()
old_irq = xa_load(.., intid)
vgic_try_get_irq_ref(old_irq) == false
new IRQ inserted --> __xa_store(.., intid, ..)
xa_unlock_irqrestore()
xa_lock_irqsave();
vgic_release_lpi_locked()
__xa_erase(.., irq->intid) <-- BUG: new IRQ is erased
kfree_rcu(old_irq)
During the deferred release path, the old IRQ can be leaked:
CPU0 (Releasing LPI) CPU1 (Adding new LPI)
==================== =====================
vgic_put_irq_norelease()
__vgic_put_irq()
refcount_dec_and_test()
irq->pending_release = true
vgic_add_lpi()
xa_lock_irqsave()
old_irq = xa_load(.., intid)
vgic_try_get_irq_ref(oldirq) == false
BUG: old IRQ overwritten --> __xa_store(.., intid, ..)
xa_unlock_irqrestore()
vgic_release_deleted_lpis()
xa_lock_irqsave()
xa_for_each() { .. } <-- old IRQ with pending_release = true
is gone, so it cannot be released
To fix the direct release path, move the reference count drop inside
the xarray lock, making sure that vgic_add_lpi() never encounters the
to-be-released LPI.
In the deferred release path, the refcount drop must happen under a raw
spinlock, so the xarray lock cannot be grabbed, and the same solution
does not work. Instead, update vgic_add_lpi(), so that if it evicts
an LPI from the xarray, it takes on the responsibility of freeing it.
Consequently, an LPI may now be freed concurrently after a deferred
release drops the refcount, so accessing the pending_release field is no
longer safe from use-after-free. Delete all uses of the flag, and update
vgic_release_deleted_lpis() to identify orphaned LPIs purely based on
their refcount.
