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Vulnerability record · CVE-2026-31588 · published 24 April 2026

CVE-2026-31588: Linux kernel use after free vulnerability

Linux · Linux Kernel

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: KVM: x86: Use scratch field in MMIO fragment to hold small write values When exiting to userspace to service an emulated MMIO write, copy the to-be-written value to a scratch field in the MMIO fragment if the size of the data payload is 8 bytes or less, i.e. can fit in a single chunk, instead of pointing the fragment directly at the source value. This fixes a class of use-after-free bugs that occur when the emulator initiates a write using an on-stack, local variable as the source, the write splits a page boundary, *and* both pages are MMIO pages. Because KVM's ABI only allows for physically contiguous MMIO requests, accesses that split MMIO pages are separated into two fragments, and are sent to userspace one at a time. When KVM attempts to complete userspace MMIO in response to KVM_RUN after the first fragment, KVM will detect the second fragment and generate a second userspace exit, and reference the on-stack variable. The issue is most visible if the second KVM_RUN is performed by a separate task, in which case the stack of the initiating task can show up as truly freed data. ================================================================== BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in complete_emulated_mmio+0x305/0x420 Read of size 1 at addr ffff888009c378d1 by task syz-executor417/984 CPU: 1 PID: 984 Comm: syz-executor417 Not tainted 5.10.0-182.0.0.95.h2627.eulerosv2r13.x86_64 #3 Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS rel-1.15.0-0-g2dd4b9b3f840-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014 Call Trace: dump_stack+0xbe/0xfd print_address_description.constprop.0+0x19/0x170 __kasan_report.cold+0x6c/0x84 kasan_report+0x3a/0x50 check_memory_region+0xfd/0x1f0 memcpy+0x20/0x60 complete_emulated_mmio+0x305/0x420 kvm_arch_vcpu_ioctl_run+0x63f/0x6d0 kvm_vcpu_ioctl+0x413/0xb20 __se_sys_ioctl+0x111/0x160 do_syscall_64+0x30/0x40 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x67/0xd1 RIP: 0033:0x42477d Code: <48> 3d 01 f0 ff ff 73 01 c3 48 c7 c1 b0 ff ff ff f7 d8 64 89 01 48 RSP: 002b:00007faa8e6890e8 EFLAGS: 00000246 ORIG_RAX: 0000000000000010 RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 00000000004d7338 RCX: 000000000042477d RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 000000000000ae80 RDI: 0000000000000005 RBP: 00000000004d7330 R08: 00007fff28d546df R09: 0000000000000000 R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000246 R12: 00000000004d733c R13: 0000000000000000 R14: 000000000040a200 R15: 00007fff28d54720 The buggy address belongs to the page: page:0000000029f6a428 refcount:0 mapcount:0 mapping:0000000000000000 index:0x0 pfn:0x9c37 flags: 0xfffffc0000000(node=0|zone=1|lastcpupid=0x1fffff) raw: 000fffffc0000000 0000000000000000 ffffea0000270dc8 0000000000000000 raw: 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 00000000ffffffff 0000000000000000 page dumped because: kasan: bad access detected Memory state around the buggy address: ffff888009c37780: ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ffff888009c37800: ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff >ffff888009c37880: ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ^ ffff888009c37900: ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ffff888009c37980: ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ================================================================== The bug can also be reproduced with a targeted KVM-Unit-Test by hacking KVM to fill a large on-stack variable in complete_emulated_mmio(), i.e. by overwrite the data value with garbage. Limit the use of the scratch fields to 8-byte or smaller accesses, and to just writes, as larger accesses and reads are not affected thanks to implementation details in the emulator, but add a sanity check to ensure those details don't change in the future. Specifically, KVM never uses on-stack variables for accesses larger that 8 bytes, e.g. uses an operand in the emulator context, and *al ---truncated---

8.8 CVSS 3.1 High EPSS 0.26% · top 83.8% CWE-416 · Use after free
8.8CVSS 3.1 base score
0.26%EPSS exploitation probability, 30 days
NoNot in CISA KEV
1Affected product versions listed by NVD
9References
17 Jun 2026Last modified by NVD

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: KVM: x86: Use scratch field in MMIO fragment to hold small write values When exiting to userspace to service an emulated MMIO write, copy the to-be-written value to a scratch field in the MMIO fragment if the size of the data payload is 8 bytes or less, i.e. can fit in a single chunk, instead of pointing the fragment directly at the source value. This fixes a class of use-after-free bugs that occur when the emulator initiates a write using an on-stack, local variable as the source, the write splits a page boundary, *and* both pages are MMIO pages. Because KVM's ABI only allows for physically contiguous MMIO requests, accesses that split MMIO pages are separated into two fragments, and are sent to userspace one at a time. When KVM attempts to complete userspace MMIO in response to KVM_RUN after the first fragment, KVM will detect the second fragment and generate a second userspace exit, and reference the on-stack variable. The issue is most visible if the second KVM_RUN is performed by a separate task, in which case the stack of the initiating task can show up as truly freed data. ================================================================== BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in complete_emulated_mmio+0x305/0x420 Read of size 1 at addr ffff888009c378d1 by task syz-executor417/984 CPU: 1 PID: 984 Comm: syz-executor417 Not tainted 5.10.0-182.0.0.95.h2627.eulerosv2r13.x86_64 #3 Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS rel-1.15.0-0-g2dd4b9b3f840-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014 Call Trace: dump_stack+0xbe/0xfd print_address_description.constprop.0+0x19/0x170 __kasan_report.cold+0x6c/0x84 kasan_report+0x3a/0x50 check_memory_region+0xfd/0x1f0 memcpy+0x20/0x60 complete_emulated_mmio+0x305/0x420 kvm_arch_vcpu_ioctl_run+0x63f/0x6d0 kvm_vcpu_ioctl+0x413/0xb20 __se_sys_ioctl+0x111/0x160 do_syscall_64+0x30/0x40 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x67/0xd1 RIP: 0033:0x42477d Code: <48> 3d 01 f0 ff ff 73 01 c3 48 c7 c1 b0 ff ff ff f7 d8 64 89 01 48 RSP: 002b:00007faa8e6890e8 EFLAGS: 00000246 ORIG_RAX: 0000000000000010 RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 00000000004d7338 RCX: 000000000042477d RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 000000000000ae80 RDI: 0000000000000005 RBP: 00000000004d7330 R08: 00007fff28d546df R09: 0000000000000000 R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000246 R12: 00000000004d733c R13: 0000000000000000 R14: 000000000040a200 R15: 00007fff28d54720 The buggy address belongs to the page: page:0000000029f6a428 refcount:0 mapcount:0 mapping:0000000000000000 index:0x0 pfn:0x9c37 flags: 0xfffffc0000000(node=0|zone=1|lastcpupid=0x1fffff) raw: 000fffffc0000000 0000000000000000 ffffea0000270dc8 0000000000000000 raw: 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 00000000ffffffff 0000000000000000 page dumped because: kasan: bad access detected Memory state around the buggy address: ffff888009c37780: ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ffff888009c37800: ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff >ffff888009c37880: ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ^ ffff888009c37900: ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ffff888009c37980: ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ================================================================== The bug can also be reproduced with a targeted KVM-Unit-Test by hacking KVM to fill a large on-stack variable in complete_emulated_mmio(), i.e. by overwrite the data value with garbage. Limit the use of the scratch fields to 8-byte or smaller accesses, and to just writes, as larger accesses and reads are not affected thanks to implementation details in the emulator, but add a sanity check to ensure those details don't change in the future. Specifically, KVM never uses on-stack variables for accesses larger that 8 bytes, e.g. uses an operand in the emulator context, and *al ---truncated---

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected products

1 vulnerable configurations from NVD's CPE data, grouped by vendor and product.

References

LinkTags
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/019d0bd32b9a4646ba35d904907452039e2db700
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0b16e69d17d8c35c5c9d5918bf596c75a44655d3 Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/22d2ff69d487a32a8b88f9c970120fc2daa08a77 Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2b83d91e9ae92fe1258d7040a32430bbb3bb7d6e Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/3a7b6d75c8f85b09dea893f64a85a356bcf6c3fe Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4569c66dd9e94a22cd0796b6514a8b25ffff16a1
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/52570e73d48f1c73836d37e594667117b4c2a5a8
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b5a02d37eb0739f462fa12df449ab9b3480c783b Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/dc6a6c3db3a4eca7e747cfc46e22c08d016c68f7 Patch

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Source: NIST National Vulnerability Database (record CVE-2026-31588), CISA KEV, FIRST EPSS (scores of 2026-09-26). This page is refreshed as NVD updates the record.