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CVE-2026-53359

High · CVSS 8.8

Linux Kernel KVM x86 Shadow Paging — Shadow paging use-after-free via unexpected MMU page role mismatch

CVSS
8.8
nvd
EPSS
KEV
No
Class
oss containerizable
CWE-416, CWE-416

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: KVM: x86: Fix shadow paging use-after-free due to unexpected role Commit 0cb2af2ea66ad ("KVM: x86: Fix shadow paging use-after-free due to unexpected GFN") fixed a shadow paging mismatch between stored and computed GFNs; the bug could be triggered by changing a PDE mapping from outside the guest, and then deleting a memslot. The rmap_remove() call would miss entries created after the PDE change because the GFN of the leaf SPTE does not match the GFN of the struct kvm_mmu_page. A similar hole however remains if the modified PDE points to a non-leaf page. In this case the gfn can be made to match, but the role does not match: the original large 2MB page creates a kvm_mmu_page with direct=1, while the new 4KB needs a kvm_mmu_page with direct=0. However, kvm_mmu_get_child_sp() does not compare the role, and therefore reuses the page. The next step is installing a leaf (4KB) SPTE on the new path which records an rmap entry under the gfn resolved by the walk. But when that child is zapped its parent kvm_mmu_page has direct=1 and kvm_mmu_page_get_gfn() computes the gfn for the 4KB page as sp->gfn + index instead of using sp->shadowed_translation[] (or sp->gfns[] in older kernels). It therefore fails to remove the recorded entry. When the memslot is dropped the shadow page is freed but the rmap entry survives, as in the scenario that was already fixed. Code that later walks that gfn (dirty logging, MMU notifier invalidation, and so on) dereferences an sptep that lies in the freed page, causing the use-after-free.

Search profile — drives PoC discovery

Symbols kvm_mmu_get_child_sprmap_removekvm_mmu_page_get_gfnkvm_mmu_pageshadowed_translationsp->gfnssp->gfndirect=1direct=0kvm_mmu_page_rolermap_entrysptepkvm_mmu_zap_pageMMU notifier invalidationdirty loggingPDE mappingmemslotleaf SPTEshadow pagekvm_mmu_get_sp
Keywords CVE-2026-53359KVM x86 shadow paging use-after-freekvm_mmu_get_child_sp role mismatchrmap_remove GFN mismatchkvm_mmu_page direct role use-after-freeLinux kernel KVM shadow paging UAFkvm_mmu_page_get_gfn use-after-freeKVM x86 shadow page role unexpectedkvm memslot delete shadow page freedsptep use-after-free KVM
Versions: Linux kernel versions prior to fixes at commits 1ae7d5a6db6c, 2ad3afa40ac6, 5e470998a23e, 81ccda30b4e8, 9291654d69e0

Ranked PoCs (8) — best first

Heuristic ranking — not yet expert-vetted. Scored on structure + provenance, not execution.

Recall-favoring discovery; ranking by the Stage-4 scorer (Adam's rubric). Scanner/aggregator repos are hidden.

Affected packages

Linux Kernel 2.6.36 → 6.1.177
Linux Kernel 6.13.0 → 6.18.38
Linux Kernel 6.19.0 → 7.1.3
Linux Kernel 6.2.0 → 6.6.144
Linux Kernel 6.7.0 → 6.12.95

References

Status: enriched · ingested 2026-07-14T18:00:20.000Z · profiled 2026-07-15T00:30:20.000Z