{
  "containers": {
    "cna": {
      "affected": [
        {
          "defaultStatus": "unaffected",
          "product": "Linux",
          "programFiles": [
            "arch/arm64/kvm/nested.c"
          ],
          "repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
          "vendor": "Linux",
          "versions": [
            {
              "lessThan": "ea7a76d7d614b5f82b4d0785f9af3550e860a71a",
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "2a359e072596fcb2e9e85017a865e3618a2fe5b5",
              "versionType": "git"
            },
            {
              "lessThan": "0a5dd8cf4d58ea28da132c2097cd1c525302ac48",
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "2a359e072596fcb2e9e85017a865e3618a2fe5b5",
              "versionType": "git"
            },
            {
              "lessThan": "bb645aa0a4caeaf7f9cd32e9a948594d434c1a8f",
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "2a359e072596fcb2e9e85017a865e3618a2fe5b5",
              "versionType": "git"
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "defaultStatus": "affected",
          "product": "Linux",
          "programFiles": [
            "arch/arm64/kvm/nested.c"
          ],
          "repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
          "vendor": "Linux",
          "versions": [
            {
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "6.16"
            },
            {
              "lessThan": "6.16",
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "0",
              "versionType": "semver"
            },
            {
              "lessThanOrEqual": "6.18.*",
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "6.18.40",
              "versionType": "semver"
            },
            {
              "lessThanOrEqual": "7.1.*",
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "7.1.5",
              "versionType": "semver"
            },
            {
              "lessThanOrEqual": "*",
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "7.2",
              "versionType": "original_commit_for_fix"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "cpeApplicability": [
        {
          "nodes": [
            {
              "cpeMatch": [
                {
                  "criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                  "versionEndExcluding": "6.18.40",
                  "versionStartIncluding": "6.16",
                  "vulnerable": true
                },
                {
                  "criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                  "versionEndExcluding": "7.1.5",
                  "versionStartIncluding": "6.16",
                  "vulnerable": true
                },
                {
                  "criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                  "versionEndExcluding": "7.2",
                  "versionStartIncluding": "6.16",
                  "vulnerable": true
                }
              ],
              "negate": false,
              "operator": "OR"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "descriptions": [
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "value": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nKVM: arm64: nv: Re-translate VNCR before injecting abort\n\nKVM faults in the VNCR page with FOLL_WRITE whenever the guest aborts\nfor a write, similar to how a regular stage-2 mapping is handled. It is\nentirely possible that the guest reads from the VNCR before writing to\nit, in which case the PFN could only be read-only.\n\nInvalidate the VNCR TLB and re-fetch the translation upon taking a VNCR\nabort, allowing the host mapping to be faulted in for write the second\ntime around. Interestingly enough, this also satisfies the ordering\nrequirements of FEAT_ETS2/3 between descriptor updates and MMU faults."
        }
      ],
      "metrics": [
        {
          "cvssV3_1": {
            "baseScore": 9.3,
            "baseSeverity": "CRITICAL",
            "vectorString": "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H",
            "version": "3.1"
          },
          "scenarios": [
            {
              "lang": "en",
              "value": "AV:L - The flaw is reached only when an arm64 nested-KVM L1 hypervisor triggers VNCR_EL2 data aborts (ESR_ELx_EC_DABT_CUR with ESR_ELx_VNCR) handled via KVM_RUN through kvm_handle_vncr_abort(); no network, adjacent-radio, or physical-device path reaches this code.\nAC:L - An attacker controlling an L1 nested-hypervisor VM can reliably issue read-then-write VNCR accesses, remap the VNCR page, and force translation/permission faults; nested virt on arm64 cloud hosts is an attacker-selectable deployment, not an uncontrollable condition.\nPR:N - Exploitation requires no host root or init-namespace capabilities beyond running hypervisor code in a tenant KVM guest on an arm64 host with nested virtualization enabled; the attacker operates entirely from within their assigned VM, consistent with other arm64 KVM nested-virt CVE scoring.\nUI:N - No victim user or administrator action is required beyond the attacker operating their own nested-virtualization workload; VNCR faults, pseudo-TLB reuse, and repeated write triggers are fully attacker-driven from within the guest.\nS:C - Stale VNCR pseudo-TLB and fixmap state lets guest-controlled faults cause host KVM to map and access the wrong guest physical pages when emulating EL2 register state, crossing the guest-to-hypervisor security boundary beyond the guest\u0027s intended authority.\nC:H - Reusing a cached VNCR translation without re-walking guest page tables can make the host read unintended guest physical pages through the per-CPU fixmap during VNCR emulation, providing a stale-translation information-disclosure primitive across guest memory views.\nI:H - Without re-translation on write aborts, a writable host fixmap established under a stale read-only fault can let the hypervisor write nested EL2 register values into the wrong guest physical page, corrupting memory the VMM expected to isolate.\nA:H - Incorrect permission/external-abort injection on VNCR write faults after a prior read leaves nested hypervisors unable to progress and can drive tight host-side fault-handling loops, causing CPU exhaustion and denial of service to co-resident workloads."
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "providerMetadata": {
        "dateUpdated": "2026-08-17T05:42:13.824Z",
        "orgId": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
        "shortName": "Linux"
      },
      "references": [
        {
          "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ea7a76d7d614b5f82b4d0785f9af3550e860a71a"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0a5dd8cf4d58ea28da132c2097cd1c525302ac48"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/bb645aa0a4caeaf7f9cd32e9a948594d434c1a8f"
        }
      ],
      "title": "KVM: arm64: nv: Re-translate VNCR before injecting abort",
      "x_generator": {
        "engine": "bippy-1.2.0"
      }
    }
  },
  "cveMetadata": {
    "assignerOrgId": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
    "assignerShortName": "Linux",
    "cveId": "CVE-2026-72278",
    "datePublished": "2026-08-15T05:54:59.698Z",
    "dateReserved": "2026-08-09T03:40:39.916Z",
    "dateUpdated": "2026-08-17T05:42:13.824Z",
    "state": "PUBLISHED"
  },
  "dataType": "CVE_RECORD",
  "dataVersion": "5.2"
}