CVE-2026-89915

KVM: arm64: Remove VM-wide VNCR mapping counter

Published Sep 16, 2026 CVSS 3.1 · 9.3 Critical EPSS < 1% KEV · Not listed
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

KVM: arm64: Remove VM-wide VNCR mapping counter

The global VNCR mapping counter is used to decide whether an L1
provided VNCR page is mapped in L0 on any CPU at the point of
dealing with a TLB invalidation. It is incremented when a mapping
is made in the fixmap, and decremented when unmapped.

As it turns out, this tracking has several flaws:

- we are trying to invalidate TLBs, and the mapping is only an
opportunistic consequence of the TLB. Checking this counter to
decide whether a TLB needs to be invalidated may result in missed
invalidations.

- an L1 vcpu invalidating its own TLB (a very likely case) will not
succeed in invalidating the VNCR pseudo TLB because that page is
not mapped in L0 at this stage.

Given that this tracking fails at delivering the minimum guarantees
that are required and is only a performance optimisation, remove it
completely.

Remediation

No solution or workaround provided in the CVE record

Tracking

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Advisories

Source ID Title
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-9019-1 Linux kernel (Azure) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-9020-1 Linux kernel vulnerabilities
History
Type Values Removed Values Added
Weaknesses CWE-665
Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 9.3, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H'}

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: KVM: arm64: Remove VM-wide VNCR mapping counter The global VNCR mapping counter is used to decide whether an L1 provided VNCR page is mapped in L0 on any CPU at the point of dealing with a TLB invalidation. It is incremented when a mapping is made in the fixmap, and decremented when unmapped. As it turns out, this tracking has several flaws: - we are trying to invalidate TLBs, and the mapping is only an opportunistic consequence of the TLB. Checking this counter to decide whether a TLB needs to be invalidated may result in missed invalidations. - an L1 vcpu invalidating its own TLB (a very likely case) will not succeed in invalidating the VNCR pseudo TLB because that page is not mapped in L0 at this stage. Given that this tracking fails at delivering the minimum guarantees that are required and is only a performance optimisation, remove it completely.
Title KVM: arm64: Remove VM-wide VNCR mapping counter
First Time appeared Linux
Linux linux Kernel
CPEs cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
Vendors & Products Linux
Linux linux Kernel
References
Weaknesses

Sources

Status
PUBLISHED
Assigner
Linux
Published
Updated
Oct 19, 2026, 8:54 AM
Reserved
Sep 11, 2026, 7:38 PM
Status
Received
Published
Sep 16, 2026, 11:17 AM
Modified
Oct 19, 2026, 9:18 AM