What is CVE-2026-72279?

CVE-2026-72279 is a Critical severity Linux kernel vulnerability with a CVSS score of 9.0 out of 10, affecting Linux kernel versions from 6.16 onward and patched in 6.18.40, 7.1.5 and 7.2. CVE-2026-72279 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2026-72279?

CVE-2026-72279 has a CVSS score of 9.0 out of 10, rated Critical severity. The vector string is CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:H/A:H.

Is there a patch available for CVE-2026-72279?

Yes, CVE-2026-72279 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-2026-72279 actively exploited?

CVE-2026-72279 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

CVE-2026-72279

Critical

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: KVM: arm64: nv: Respect read-only PFN when mapping L1 VNCR KVM currently maps the L1 VNCR into the host stage-1 by relying entirely on the permissions of the guest stage-1. At the same time, it is entirely possible that the backing PFN is read-only (e.g. RO memslot), meaning that the L1 VNCR should use at most a read-only mapping. Cache the writability of the PFN in the VNCR TLB and use it to constrain the resulting fixmap permissions. Promote VNCR permission faults to an SEA in the case where the guest attempts to write to a read-only endpoint. Conveniently, this also plugs a page leak found by Sashiko [*] resulting from the early return for a read-only PFN.

Package Linux Kernel

Published 2026-08-15

Last modified 2026-08-17

CVSS version 3.1

Patch available

Yes

CVSS 3.1 score

9.0

out of 10

Critical

Attack Vector

Local

Attack Complexity

Low

Privileges Required

None

User Interaction

None

Scope

Changed

Confidentiality

Low

Integrity

High

Availability

High

Vector string

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/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-2026-72279

Severity Critical

CVSS score 9.0 / 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-2026-72279?

CVE-2026-72279 is a Critical severity Linux kernel vulnerability with a CVSS score of 9.0 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-2026-72279 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
What is the CVSS score for CVE-2026-72279?

CVE-2026-72279 has a CVSS score of 9.0 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:N/I:H/A:H.
Is there a patch available for CVE-2026-72279?

Yes. CVE-2026-72279 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-2026-72279 actively exploited?

No. CVE-2026-72279 has not been confirmed as actively exploited. It is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.