Linux Kernel up to 6.12.111/6.18.54/7.2.8/7.3-rc4 KVM MMU arch/arm64/kvm/mmu.c __unmap_stage2_range race condition

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.
5.2	$0-$5k	0.93

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability described as problematic has been identified in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.111/6.18.54/7.2.8/7.3-rc4. This issue affects the function __unmap_stage2_range of the file arch/arm64/kvm/mmu.c of the component KVM MMU. Executing a manipulation can lead to race condition. This vulnerability is registered as CVE-2026-98468. It is possible to launch the attack remotely. No exploit is available. Upgrading the affected component is recommended.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.111/6.18.54/7.2.8/7.3-rc4 and classified as problematic. This vulnerability affects the function __unmap_stage2_range of the file arch/arm64/kvm/mmu.c of the component KVM MMU. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a race condition vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-362. The product contains a code sequence that can run concurrently with other code, and the code sequence requires temporary, exclusive access to a shared resource, but a timing window exists in which the shared resource can be modified by another code sequence that is operating concurrently. As an impact it is known to affect integrity, and availability. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: KVM: arm64: Fix spurious warning for benign stage 2 teardown race kvmtool was used to establish an L1 guest with 8 CPUs and 8 GiB of RAM, an L2 guest with 4 CPUs and 4 GiB of RAM and an L3 guest with 2 CPUs and 2 GiB of RAM, all of which was then exited. Under memory pressure in the L0 host warnings were observed due to migration triggered by compaction: WARNING: arch/arm64/kvm/mmu.c:336 at __unmap_stage2_range+0x64/0x80, CPU#5: kcompactd0/66 Which was, in turn, triggered by an MMU notifier for the host invalidation: mmu_notifier_invalidate_range_start() -> ... -> kvm_mmu_notifier_invalidate_range_start() -> kvm_mmu_unmap_gfn_range() -> kvm_unmap_gfn_range() -> kvm_nested_s2_unmap() -> kvm_stage2_unmap_range() -> __unmap_stage2_range() -> stage2_apply_range() <- -EINVAL, triggering a WARN_ON() Racing with L0's teardown of stage 2 page tables: exit_mm() -> mmput() -> __mmput() -> exit_mmap() -> mmu_notifier_release() -> ... -> kvm_mmu_notifier_release() -> kvm_flush_shadow_all() -> kvm_arch_flush_shadow_all() -> kvm_free_stage2_pgd() -> [ acquire kvm->mmu_lock for write ] -> mmu->pgt = NULL [ among other tasks ] -> [ release kvm->mmu_lock for write ] It turns out there is a benign race resulting in a spurious warning: Thread A - notify: migration | Thread B - notify: release -------------------------------|--------------------------------- < kvm->mmu_lock held > | stage2_apply_range() | get mmu->pgt, check !NULL | ... | kvm_arch_flush_shadow_all() cond_resched_rwlock_write(); | < contend, sleep kvm->mmu_lock > < drop kvm->mmu_lock > | < acquire kvm->mmu_lock> | ... | kvm_free_stage2_pgd() | mmu->pgt = NULL | < invalidate MMU > | ... | < release kvm->mmu_lock > [ scheduled ] | stage2_apply_range() | < loop to next > | get, mmu->pgt, check !NULL | is NULL, return -EINVAL | __unmap_stage2_range() | WARN_ON(-EINVAL) <--- entirely spurious - the race was handled correctly. Fix the spurious warning by updating stage2_apply_range() to no longer treat concurrent PGT teardown on lock release as an error - whether the walker is tearing down page tables or doing something else this is a legitimate reason to abort the operation without error. This keeps the warning in place for all other circumstances. In practice only __unmap_stage2_range() actually does anything with the error so this only impacts that.

The advisory is shared for download at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability was named CVE-2026-98468 since 09/25/2026. The exploitation appears to be easy. The attack can be initiated remotely. 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 10/18/2026).

Upgrading to version 6.12.112, 6.18.55, 7.2.9 or 7.3-rc5 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch f44a92633136b409ebb9b7036fceb7e11de60a20/c23ed110d27ba99cf3a881986514f79aacedf476/330346dda3bf5f8a3b06723024f7d906326270cf/38b70fc453c3112f1a62583b89903ae41116cc27 is able to eliminate this problem. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 6.12.111
• 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
• 6.18.51
• 6.18.52
• 6.18.53
• 6.18.54
• 7.2.0
• 7.2.1
• 7.2.2
• 7.2.3
• 7.2.4
• 7.2.5
• 7.2.6
• 7.2.7
• 7.2.8
• 7.3-rc1
• 7.3-rc2
• 7.3-rc3
• 7.3-rc4

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: 5.4
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 5.2

VulDB Base Score: 5.4
VulDB Temp Score: 5.2
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: Race condition
CWE: CWE-362
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 6.12.112/6.18.55/7.2.9/7.3-rc5
Patch: f44a92633136b409ebb9b7036fceb7e11de60a20/c23ed110d27ba99cf3a881986514f79aacedf476/330346dda3bf5f8a3b06723024f7d906326270cf/38b70fc453c3112f1a62583b89903ae41116cc27

Timelineinfo

09/25/2026 CVE reserved
10/18/2026 +23 days Advisory disclosed
10/18/2026 +0 days VulDB entry created
10/18/2026 +0 days VulDB entry last update

Sourcesinfo

Vendor: kernel.org

Advisory: git.kernel.org
Status: Confirmed

CVE: CVE-2026-98468 (🔒)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2026-98468
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-422140

Entryinfo

Created: 10/18/2026 20:38
Changes: 10/18/2026 20:38 (60)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

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