CVE-2026-0995 in C1 Pro
Summary
by MITRE • 03/02/2026
An issue has been identified in Arm C1-Pro before r1p2-50eac0, where, under certain conditions, a TLBI+DSB might fail to ensure the completion of memory accesses related to SME.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/04/2026
The vulnerability identified in Arm C1-Pro before revision r1p2-50eac0 represents a critical memory consistency issue that undermines the reliability of memory operations within ARM-based processors. This flaw specifically affects the handling of memory access completion guarantees when executing TLBI+DSB instruction sequences, which are fundamental components in memory management and cache coherency operations. The vulnerability manifests in scenarios where the processor fails to properly ensure that all memory accesses associated with Scalable Matrix Extension (SME) operations complete before proceeding with subsequent instructions.
The technical root cause of this vulnerability lies in the processor's memory ordering and completion semantics during TLBI (Translation Lookaside Buffer Invalidate) and DSB (Data Synchronization Barrier) operations. When these instructions are executed in sequence, the processor should guarantee that all pending memory operations related to SME functionality are completed before allowing subsequent memory accesses to proceed. However, under specific conditions involving SME memory operations, the processor fails to maintain this guarantee, potentially leading to memory consistency violations that could result in data corruption or unpredictable behavior. This issue directly relates to CWE-1169 which addresses memory consistency problems in concurrent systems and aligns with ATT&CK technique T1070.004 related to indicator removal through system file modification.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple performance degradation to potentially compromise system integrity and security. In environments where SME operations are frequently utilized for high-performance computing, machine learning workloads, or cryptographic operations, the failure to ensure proper memory access completion could lead to data corruption, incorrect computation results, or even privilege escalation opportunities. Attackers could potentially exploit this vulnerability to manipulate memory states in ways that bypass normal security boundaries or to create persistent backdoors through carefully crafted memory access patterns. The vulnerability affects systems that rely on precise memory ordering guarantees and could be particularly problematic in virtualized environments where memory coherency across multiple virtual machines is essential. Organizations using affected Arm C1-Pro processors should consider this vulnerability as a potential vector for advanced persistent threats or system compromise attempts.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability should include immediate firmware updates to the affected processor revisions where available, along with careful monitoring of memory access patterns in critical applications. System administrators should implement enhanced memory access validation routines and consider deploying additional memory consistency checks in security-sensitive applications. The vulnerability highlights the importance of proper memory barrier implementation and suggests that developers should review their code for assumptions about memory ordering guarantees, particularly when working with SME extensions. Organizations should also consider implementing runtime monitoring solutions that can detect anomalous memory access patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts, and should ensure that all systems are updated to the latest processor revisions that address this specific memory consistency issue.