CVE-2026-64561
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: KVM: x86: Check for invalid/obsolete root *after* making MMU pages available Check for a "stale" page fault, i.e. for an invalid and/or obsolete root, after making MMU pages available for the shadow MMU. If reclaiming shadow pages zaps an in-use root, i.e. marks it invalid, then KVM will attempt to map memory into an invalid root. On its own, populating an invalid root is "fine", but because child shadow pages inherit their parent's role, any children created during the map/fetch will be created as invalid pages, thus violating KVM's invariant that invalid pages are never on the list of active MMU pages. Note, the underlying flaw has existed since KVM first started tracking invalid roots in 2008 (commit 2e53d63acba7, "KVM: MMU: ignore zapped root pagetables"), but the true badness only came along in 2020 (Linux 5.9) with the invariant that invalid shadow pages can't be on the list of active pages. Note #2, inheriting role.invalid when creating child shadow pages is also far from ideal; that flaw will be addressed separately.
Affected versions
Linux kernel versions
5.9
and later are affected. Fixed in
6.6.148,
6.12.101,
6.18.42,
7.1.6,
7.2-rc5
and their respective stable series.
References
5 totalFrequently asked questions
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What is CVE-2026-64561?
CVE-2026-64561 is a unscored severity Linux kernel vulnerability . It affects Linux kernel versions from 5.9 onward and has been patched in 6.6.148, 6.12.101, 6.18.42 and others. CVE-2026-64561 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-2026-64561?
Yes. CVE-2026-64561 has been patched. Fixed versions include 6.6.148, 6.12.101, 6.18.42 and others. If you are running Linux kernel 5.9 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.
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Is CVE-2026-64561 actively exploited?
No. CVE-2026-64561 has not been confirmed as actively exploited. It is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.