Linux Kernel up to 6.18.50/7.2.4 s390/vfio-ap vfio_ap_mdev_probe/status_show use after free

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.
9.5	$5k-$25k	0.00

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as very critical, has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.18.50/7.2.4. This issue affects the function vfio_ap_mdev_probe/status_show of the component s390/vfio-ap. This manipulation causes use after free. This vulnerability is registered as CVE-2026-89956. Remote exploitation of the attack is possible. No exploit is available. It is advisable to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.18.50/7.2.4 and classified as very critical. Affected by this vulnerability is the function vfio_ap_mdev_probe/status_show of the component s390/vfio-ap. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a use after free vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-416. Referencing memory after it has been freed can cause a program to crash, use unexpected values, or execute code. As an impact it is known to affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: s390/vfio-ap: Fix missing lock required to access list of ap_matrix_mdev objects In order to traverse or add/remove ap_matrix_mdev objects in the matrix_dev->mdev_list, the matrix_dev->guests_lock mutex must be held. There are two functions that access the list without holding the mutex: vfio_ap_mdev_probe function ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The vfio_ap_mdev_probe function uses the matrix_dev->mdevs_lock mutex to guard the add of a newly created ap_matrix_mdev object to the matrix_dev->mdev_list. This mutex does not protect list access; its purpose is to guard against concurrent access to fields contained in an ap_matrix_mdev object. This could lead to kernel memory corruption or use-after-free if another mdev is created or removed concurrently. The adding of an ap_matrix_mdev object to matrix_dev->mdev_list is now guarded by the matrix_dev->guests_lock which is the correct way to protect against concurrent mdev_list access. Also removed the following two lines of code because the matrix_mdev is allocated via vfio_alloc_device macro which uses kzalloc, so req_trigger and cfg_chg_trigger are already zero-initialised when the struct is allocated before the call to vfio_register_emulated_iommu_dev. This prevents a window whereby these triggers are set to NULL after the device is exposed to userspace. matrix_mdev->req_trigger = NULL; matrix_mdev->cfg_chg_trigger = NULL; vfio_ap_mdev_for_queue function ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The status_show function that supports display of the status attribute of the devices in /sys/bus/ap/devices calls the vfio_ap_mdev_for_queue function which iterates the matrix_dev->mdev_list to find the object representing the queue device whose status is to be displayed. In order to traverse this list, the matrix_dev->guests_lock mutex must be held. To fix this, the guests_lock mutex is taken prior to taking the matrix_dev->mdevs_lock mutex in the status_show function. It is taken there rather than the vfio_ap_mdev_for_queue function - where it is needed - because it must be taken prior to the mdevs_lock mutex in order to adhere to the proper locking order and prevent a lockdep splat; also because the mdevs_lock is needed there to access fields within the matrix_mdev object in that function. See the vfio-ap-locking.rst in the linux kernel tree.

The advisory is shared at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2026-89956 since 09/11/2026. The exploitation appears to be easy. The attack can be launched remotely. Technical details are known, but no exploit is available. The price for an exploit might be around USD $5k-$25k at the moment (estimation calculated on 09/16/2026).

Upgrading to version 6.18.51, 7.2.5 or 7.3-rc1 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 647916988272fe5ecb4bb30cd02b51af9960618a/0fd74477d05743d4cd9b25a3b667daa278d53b93/7fa61c29850d05e40ca9ed41bfdf57673023f581 is able to eliminate this problem. 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

• 6.18.0
• 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
• 6.18.44
• 6.18.45
• 6.18.46
• 6.18.47
• 6.18.48
• 6.18.49
• 6.18.50
• 7.2.0
• 7.2.1
• 7.2.2
• 7.2.3
• 7.2.4

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: 9.9
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 9.5

VulDB Base Score: 9.9
VulDB Temp Score: 9.5
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: Use after free
CWE: CWE-416 / CWE-119
CAPEC: 🔒
ATT&CK: 🔒

Physical: No
Local: No
Remote: Yes

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 6.18.51/7.2.5/7.3-rc1
Patch: 647916988272fe5ecb4bb30cd02b51af9960618a/0fd74477d05743d4cd9b25a3b667daa278d53b93/7fa61c29850d05e40ca9ed41bfdf57673023f581

Timelineinfo

09/11/2026 CVE reserved
09/16/2026 +5 days Advisory disclosed
09/16/2026 +0 days VulDB entry created
09/16/2026 +0 days VulDB entry last update

Sourcesinfo

Vendor: kernel.org

Advisory: git.kernel.org
Status: Confirmed

CVE: CVE-2026-89956 (🔒)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2026-89956
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-405805

Entryinfo

Created: 09/16/2026 15:04
Changes: 09/16/2026 15:04 (59)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

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Discussion

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