What is CVE-2026-72278?

CVE-2026-72278 is a Critical severity Linux kernel vulnerability with a CVSS score of 9.3 out of 10, affecting Linux kernel versions from 6.16 onward and patched in 6.18.40, 7.1.5 and 7.2. CVE-2026-72278 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2026-72278?

CVE-2026-72278 has a CVSS score of 9.3 out of 10, rated Critical severity. The vector string is CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H.

Is there a patch available for CVE-2026-72278?

Yes, CVE-2026-72278 has been patched. Fixed versions include 6.18.40, 7.1.5 and 7.2. If you are running Linux kernel 6.16 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.

Is CVE-2026-72278 actively exploited?

CVE-2026-72278 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

CVE-2026-72278

Critical

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: KVM: arm64: nv: Re-translate VNCR before injecting abort KVM faults in the VNCR page with FOLL_WRITE whenever the guest aborts for a write, similar to how a regular stage-2 mapping is handled. It is entirely possible that the guest reads from the VNCR before writing to it, in which case the PFN could only be read-only. Invalidate the VNCR TLB and re-fetch the translation upon taking a VNCR abort, allowing the host mapping to be faulted in for write the second time around. Interestingly enough, this also satisfies the ordering requirements of FEAT_ETS2/3 between descriptor updates and MMU faults.

Package Linux Kernel

Published 2026-08-15

Last modified 2026-08-17

CVSS version 3.1

Patch available

Yes

CVSS 3.1 score

9.3

out of 10

Critical

Attack Vector

Local

Attack Complexity

Low

Privileges Required

None

User Interaction

None

Scope

Changed

Confidentiality

High

Integrity

High

Availability

High

Vector string

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

Affected versions

Linux kernel versions 6.16 and later are affected. Fixed in 6.18.40, 7.1.5, 7.2 and their respective stable series.

Affected from

≥ 6.16

Fixed in

✓ 6.18.40 6.18.x ✓ 7.1.5 7.1.x ✓ 7.2

References

3 total

Details

CVE ID CVE-2026-72278

Severity Critical

CVSS score 9.3 / 10

CVSS version 3.1

Published 2026-08-15

Modified 2026-08-17

KEV No

Patch

Yes

Package linux

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-72278?

CVE-2026-72278 is a Critical severity Linux kernel vulnerability with a CVSS score of 9.3 out of 10 . It affects Linux kernel versions from 6.16 onward and has been patched in 6.18.40, 7.1.5 and 7.2. CVE-2026-72278 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
What is the CVSS score for CVE-2026-72278?

CVE-2026-72278 has a CVSS score of 9.3 out of 10, rated Critical severity (CVSS 3.1). The vector string is CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H.
Is there a patch available for CVE-2026-72278?

Yes. CVE-2026-72278 has been patched. Fixed versions include 6.18.40, 7.1.5 and 7.2. If you are running Linux kernel 6.16 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.
Is CVE-2026-72278 actively exploited?

No. CVE-2026-72278 has not been confirmed as actively exploited. It is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.