Linux Kernel up to 7.1.2 KVM rmap_remove shadowed_translation[] use after free

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.1.176/6.6.143/6.12.94/6.18.37/7.1.2 and classified as critical. This affects the function rmap_remove of the component KVM. Performing a manipulation of the argument shadowed_translation[] results in use after free. This vulnerability was named CVE-2026-53359. There is no available exploit. The affected component should be upgraded.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.1.176/6.6.143/6.12.94/6.18.37/7.1.2. It has been classified as critical. This affects the function rmap_remove of the component KVM. The manipulation of the argument shadowed_translation[] with an unknown input leads to a use after free vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-416. Referencing memory after it has been freed can cause a program to crash, use unexpected values, or execute code. This is going to have an impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

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.

It is possible to read the advisory at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2026-53359 since 06/09/2026. The exploitability is told to be easy. Technical details of the vulnerability are known, but there is no available exploit. The pricing for an exploit might be around USD $5k-$25k at the moment (estimation calculated on 07/04/2026).

Upgrading to version 6.1.177, 6.6.144, 6.12.95, 6.18.38, 7.1.3 or 7.2-rc1 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch b1337aae5e194324e4810d561764e7793f8b3864/9291654d69e08542de37755cebe4d5b02c3170d1/2ad3afa40ac6aa340dada122f9abfa46c0a6eb35/5e470998a23e4c3d89ed24e8172cb22747e61efa/1ae7d5a6db6c190ce183e3098ca0e0846e14d462/81ccda30b4e83d8f5cc4fd50503c44e3a33abfeb is able to eliminate this problem. The bugfix is ready for download at git.kernel.org. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

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Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 6.1.176
• 6.6.143
• 6.12.0
• 6.12.1
• 6.12.2
• 6.12.3
• 6.12.4
• 6.12.5
• 6.12.6
• 6.12.7
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• 6.12.84
• 6.12.85
• 6.12.86
• 6.12.87
• 6.12.88
• 6.12.89
• 6.12.90
• 6.12.91
• 6.12.92
• 6.12.93
• 6.12.94
• 6.18.0
• 6.18.1
• 6.18.2
• 6.18.3
• 6.18.4
• 6.18.5
• 6.18.6
• 6.18.7
• 6.18.8
• 6.18.9
• 6.18.10
• 6.18.11
• 6.18.12
• 6.18.13
• 6.18.14
• 6.18.15
• 6.18.16
• 6.18.17
• 6.18.18
• 6.18.19
• 6.18.20
• 6.18.21
• 6.18.22
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• 6.18.24
• 6.18.25
• 6.18.26
• 6.18.27
• 6.18.28
• 6.18.29
• 6.18.30
• 6.18.31
• 6.18.32
• 6.18.33
• 6.18.34
• 6.18.35
• 6.18.36
• 6.18.37
• 7.1.0
• 7.1.1
• 7.1.2

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

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CPE 2.2info

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