CVE-2026-53359
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.
Affected versions
Linux kernel versions
2.6.36
and later are affected. Fixed in
6.1.177,
6.6.144,
6.12.95,
6.18.38,
7.1.3,
7.2-rc1
and their respective stable series.
References
6 totalFrequently asked questions
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What is CVE-2026-53359?
CVE-2026-53359 is a unscored severity Linux kernel vulnerability . It affects Linux kernel versions from 2.6.36 onward and has been patched in 6.1.177, 6.6.144, 6.12.95 and others. CVE-2026-53359 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
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Is there a patch available for CVE-2026-53359?
Yes — CVE-2026-53359 has been patched. Fixed versions include 6.1.177, 6.6.144, 6.12.95 and others. If you are running Linux kernel 2.6.36 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.
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Is CVE-2026-53359 actively exploited?
No — CVE-2026-53359 has not been confirmed as actively exploited. It is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.