CVE-2026-99120

KVM: x86/mmu: Cope with the SS bit being set in #NPF exit codes

Published Oct 28, 2026 CVSS 3.1 · 4.7 Medium EPSS < 1% KEV · Not listed
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

KVM: x86/mmu: Cope with the SS bit being set in #NPF exit codes

When running Hyper-V from Windows 11, KVM is seeing the SS bit set
in nested page fault error codes produced for shadowed NPT. The AMD
manual is unclear about when SS is set, including whether it can be set
when SupervisorShadowStackEn (bit 6) is not set in the MISC_CTL field
of the VMCB.

Nevertheless, the unexpected SS bit causes out of bounds accesses in
permission_fault(), seen as either WARNs or UBSAN reports:

kernel: UBSAN: array-index-out-of-bounds in arch/x86/kvm/mmu.h:225:27
kernel: index 34 is out of range for type 'u16 [16]'

(in this case, the page fault error code is 34*2=0x44, i.e. SS|U; the
report shows SS|U|W happening as well). Fix the handling of unknown
error codes by dropping SS and (with a WARN) any bits not among those
that permission_fault() expects to receive.

At the same time, given the uncertainty about when hardware sets SS,
follow the processor's behavior when constructing the fault's error
code, and preserve the SS bit as passed to FNAME(walk_addr_generic).
While the behavior is surprising, there's a possibility that Hyper-V
expects it (Hyper-V does not even enable CET unless it finds MBEC/GMET!),
so retain the information when reflecting the fault to L1 instead of
unconditionally discarding it.

Bisection shows that this started happening with commit 687ee95c1b6d ("KVM:
nSVM: enable GMET for guests"), even though SHSTK was available to guests
since Linux 6.18. However, this is not because bit 1 of MISC_CTL (GMET)
somehow enables reporting the SS bit; rather, it's simply that Hyper-V
never uses CET unless GMET is also present. The WARN is reproducible
even with gmet=0, with some hacking of kvm-unit-tests's cet.c testcase
to ensure that the first access to the shadow stack triggers a page fault.

Remediation

No solution or workaround provided in the CVE record

Tracking

Sign in to view the affected projects.

Advisories

No advisories available
History
Type Values Removed Values Added
Weaknesses CWE-125
References
Metrics threat_severity

None

cvssV3_1

{'score': 4.7, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H'}

threat_severity

Moderate

Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Linux linux
Vendors & Products Linux linux
Type Values Removed Values Added
Description In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: KVM: x86/mmu: Cope with the SS bit being set in #NPF exit codes When running Hyper-V from Windows 11, KVM is seeing the SS bit set in nested page fault error codes produced for shadowed NPT. The AMD manual is unclear about when SS is set, including whether it can be set when SupervisorShadowStackEn (bit 6) is not set in the MISC_CTL field of the VMCB. Nevertheless, the unexpected SS bit causes out of bounds accesses in permission_fault(), seen as either WARNs or UBSAN reports: kernel: UBSAN: array-index-out-of-bounds in arch/x86/kvm/mmu.h:225:27 kernel: index 34 is out of range for type 'u16 [16]' (in this case, the page fault error code is 34*2=0x44, i.e. SS|U; the report shows SS|U|W happening as well). Fix the handling of unknown error codes by dropping SS and (with a WARN) any bits not among those that permission_fault() expects to receive. At the same time, given the uncertainty about when hardware sets SS, follow the processor's behavior when constructing the fault's error code, and preserve the SS bit as passed to FNAME(walk_addr_generic). While the behavior is surprising, there's a possibility that Hyper-V expects it (Hyper-V does not even enable CET unless it finds MBEC/GMET!), so retain the information when reflecting the fault to L1 instead of unconditionally discarding it. Bisection shows that this started happening with commit 687ee95c1b6d ("KVM: nSVM: enable GMET for guests"), even though SHSTK was available to guests since Linux 6.18. However, this is not because bit 1 of MISC_CTL (GMET) somehow enables reporting the SS bit; rather, it's simply that Hyper-V never uses CET unless GMET is also present. The WARN is reproducible even with gmet=0, with some hacking of kvm-unit-tests's cet.c testcase to ensure that the first access to the shadow stack triggers a page fault.
Title KVM: x86/mmu: Cope with the SS bit being set in #NPF exit codes
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 28, 2026, 10:34 AM
Reserved
Sep 25, 2026, 10:25 AM
Status
Received
Published
Oct 28, 2026, 11:17 AM
Modified
Oct 28, 2026, 11:17 AM
Severity
Moderate
Public date
Oct 28, 2026, 12:00 AM