Linux Kernel up to 7.2-rc5 KVM SVM arch/x86/kvm/svm/svm.c pi_wakeup_handler resource consumption

CVSS Meta Temp Score CVSS is a standardized scoring system to determine possibilities of attacks. The Temp Score considers temporal factors like disclosure, exploit and countermeasures. The unique Meta Score calculates the average score of different sources to provide a normalized scoring system.	Current Exploit Price (≈) Our analysts are monitoring exploit markets and are in contact with vulnerability brokers. The range indicates the observed or calculated exploit price to be seen on exploit markets. A good indicator to understand the monetary effort required for and the popularity of an attack.	CTI Interest Score Our Cyber Threat Intelligence team is monitoring different web sites, mailing lists, exploit markets and social media networks. The CTI Interest Score identifies the interest of attackers and the security community for this specific vulnerability in real-time. A high score indicates an elevated risk to be targeted for this vulnerability.
7.8	$0-$5k	0.48

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability labeled as very critical has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.6.150/6.12.102/6.18.43/7.1.7/7.2-rc5. Affected by this vulnerability is the function pi_wakeup_handler of the file arch/x86/kvm/svm/svm.c of the component KVM SVM. Such manipulation leads to resource consumption. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2026-74516. An attack has to be approached locally. There is no exploit available.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as very critical, has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.6.150/6.12.102/6.18.43/7.1.7/7.2-rc5. Affected by this issue is the function pi_wakeup_handler of the file arch/x86/kvm/svm/svm.c of the component KVM SVM. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a resource consumption vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-400. The product does not properly control the allocation and maintenance of a limited resource, thereby enabling an actor to influence the amount of resources consumed, eventually leading to the exhaustion of available resources. Impacted is confidentiality, integrity, and availability. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: KVM: SVM: Update x2APIC MSR intercepts if AVIC is inhibited while L2 is active Always update x2APIC MSR intercepts for L1 when AVIC is deactivated, even if L2 is active and KVM is using a separate MSR bitmap to run L2. If AVIC is fully enabled prior to running L2, and is then inhibited while L2 is active (for a VM-scoped inhibit), then KVM will run L1 with AVIC disabled, but with x2APIC MSR intercepts disabled, i.e. will allow L1 to read most of the host's APIC state, send arbitrary interrupts, change task priority, and ultimately trivially DoS the host. E.g. sending a self-IPI in L1 on HYPERV_REENLIGHTENMENT_VECTOR, 0xee, with CONFIG_HYPERV=n in the host kernel as a "safe" PoC, yields: Spurious interrupt (vector 0xee) on CPU#425. Acked And hacking KVM to abuse kvm_set_posted_intr_wakeup_handler() to register a handler and WARN on POSTED_INTR_WAKEUP_VECTOR yields: ------------[ cut here ]------------ WARNING: arch/x86/kvm/svm/svm.c:5594 at pi_wakeup_handler+0x9/0x10 [kvm_amd], CPU#156: nested_x2apic_t/316940 CPU: 156 UID: 0 PID: 316940 Comm: nested_x2apic_t Tainted: G S U Tainted: [S]=CPU_OUT_OF_SPEC, [U]=USER Hardware name: Google Astoria-Turin/astoria, BIOS 0.20260209.0-0 02/09/2026 RIP: 0010:pi_wakeup_handler+0x9/0x10 [kvm_amd] Call Trace: <IRQ> sysvec_kvm_posted_intr_wakeup_ipi+0x64/0x80 </IRQ> <TASK> asm_sysvec_kvm_posted_intr_wakeup_ipi+0x1a/0x20 RIP: 0010:vcpu_run+0x1430/0x1e40 [kvm] kvm_arch_vcpu_ioctl_run+0x2c1/0x600 [kvm] kvm_vcpu_ioctl+0x580/0x6b0 [kvm] __se_sys_ioctl+0x6d/0xb0 do_syscall_64+0x10a/0x480 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x4b/0x53 RIP: 0033:0x46ff4b </TASK> ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]---

The advisory is shared for download at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2026-74516 since 08/15/2026. The exploitation is known to be easy. The attack needs to be approached locally. Additional levels of successful authentication are needed for exploitation. There are known technical details, but no exploit is available. The current price for an exploit might be approx. USD $0-$5k (estimation calculated on 08/15/2026).

Upgrading to version 6.6.151, 6.12.103, 6.18.44, 7.1.8 or 7.2-rc6 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 6664a5aea45318f4ec156a729949b474dd6e3159/f12373625b4dc9bcc89c41872648878c73bb9272/7668c58dcf465559dc7a0d2e95e9cb79cf47454b/89f9e8398e79c49886766fc24a84c37726231104/7d3aae206663c4e006b25a1c7a20a4029e67da76 is able to eliminate this problem.

Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 6.6.150
• 6.12.102
• 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
• 6.18.23
• 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
• 6.18.38
• 6.18.39
• 6.18.40
• 6.18.41
• 6.18.42
• 6.18.43
• 7.1.0
• 7.1.1
• 7.1.2
• 7.1.3
• 7.1.4
• 7.1.5
• 7.1.6
• 7.1.7
• 7.2-rc1
• 7.2-rc2
• 7.2-rc3
• 7.2-rc4
• 7.2-rc5

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

• 🔒
• 🔒
• 🔒

CPE 2.2info

• 🔒
• 🔒
• 🔒

CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 8.2
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 7.8

VulDB Base Score: 8.2
VulDB Temp Score: 7.8
VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv2info

AV	AC	Au	C	I	A
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳

Vector	Complexity	Authentication	Confidentiality	Integrity	Availability
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock

VulDB Base Score: 🔒
VulDB Temp Score: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

Exploitinginfo

Class: Resource consumption
CWE: CWE-400 / CWE-404
CAPEC: 🔒
ATT&CK: 🔒

Physical: Partially
Local: Yes
Remote: No

Availability: 🔒
Status: Not defined
Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔒

0-Day	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Today	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Interest: 🔍
Active Actors: 🔍
Active APT Groups: 🔍

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: Upgrade
Status: 🔍

0-Day Time: 🔒

Upgrade: Kernel 6.6.151/6.12.103/6.18.44/7.1.8/7.2-rc6
Patch: 6664a5aea45318f4ec156a729949b474dd6e3159/f12373625b4dc9bcc89c41872648878c73bb9272/7668c58dcf465559dc7a0d2e95e9cb79cf47454b/89f9e8398e79c49886766fc24a84c37726231104/7d3aae206663c4e006b25a1c7a20a4029e67da76

Timelineinfo

08/15/2026 Advisory disclosed
08/15/2026 +0 days CVE reserved
08/15/2026 +0 days VulDB entry created
08/15/2026 +0 days VulDB entry last update

Sourcesinfo

Vendor: kernel.org

Advisory: git.kernel.org
Status: Confirmed

CVE: CVE-2026-74516 (🔒)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2026-74516
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-390764

Entryinfo

Created: 08/15/2026 14:52
Changes: 08/15/2026 14:52 (60)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.

Discussion

Want to know what is going to be exploited?

We predict KEV entries!