# CVE-2024-26976: KVM: Always flush async #PF workqueue when vCPU is being destroyed
> A race condition in KVM's async page fault handling can cause a deadlock and system hang when destroying a virtual CPU.
- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 1 May 2024
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2024-26976, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-26976, GHSA-qc4m-rx2p-hrfv, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-26976
## What is CVE-2024-26976?
CVE-2024-26976 is a high-severity vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 1 May 2024. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
### Official description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
KVM: Always flush async #PF workqueue when vCPU is being destroyed
Always flush the per-vCPU async #PF workqueue when a vCPU is clearing its
completion queue, e.g. when a VM and all its vCPUs is being destroyed.
KVM must ensure that none of its workqueue callbacks is running when the
last reference to the KVM _module_ is put. Gifting a reference to the
associated VM prevents the workqueue callback from dereferencing freed
vCPU/VM memory, but does not prevent the KVM module from being unloaded
before the callback completes.
Drop the misguided VM refcount gifting, as calling kvm_put_kvm() from
async_pf_execute() if kvm_put_kvm() flushes the async #PF workqueue will
result in deadlock. async_pf_execute() can't return until kvm_put_kvm()
finishes, and kvm_put_kvm() can't return until async_pf_execute() finishes:
WARNING: CPU: 8 PID: 251 at virt/kvm/kvm_main.c:1435 kvm_put_kvm+0x2d/0x320 [kvm]
Modules linked in: vhost_net vhost vhost_iotlb tap kvm_intel kvm irqbypass
CPU: 8 PID: 251 Comm: kworker/8:1 Tainted: G W 6.6.0-rc1-e7af8d17224a-x86/gmem-vm #119
Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS 0.0.0 02/06/2015
Workqueue: events async_pf_execute [kvm]
RIP: 0010:kvm_put_kvm+0x2d/0x320 [kvm]
Call Trace:
async_pf_execute+0x198/0x260 [kvm]
process_one_work+0x145/0x2d0
worker_thread+0x27e/0x3a0
kthread+0xba/0xe0
ret_from_fork+0x2d/0x50
ret_from_fork_asm+0x11/0x20
---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]---
INFO: task kworker/8:1:251 blocked for more than 120 seconds.
Tainted: G W 6.6.0-rc1-e7af8d17224a-x86/gmem-vm #119
"echo 0 > /proc/sys/kernel/hung_task_timeout_secs" disables this message.
task:kworker/8:1 state:D stack:0 pid:251 ppid:2 flags:0x00004000
Workqueue: events async_pf_execute [kvm]
Call Trace:
__schedule+0x33f/0xa40
schedule+0x53/0xc0
schedule_timeout+0x12a/0x140
__wait_for_common+0x8d/0x1d0
__flush_work.isra.0+0x19f/0x2c0
kvm_clear_async_pf_completion_queue+0x129/0x190 [kvm]
kvm_arch_destroy_vm+0x78/0x1b0 [kvm]
kvm_put_kvm+0x1c1/0x320 [kvm]
async_pf_execute+0x198/0x260 [kvm]
process_one_work+0x145/0x2d0
worker_thread+0x27e/0x3a0
kthread+0xba/0xe0
ret_from_fork+0x2d/0x50
ret_from_fork_asm+0x11/0x20
If kvm_clear_async_pf_completion_queue() actually flushes the workqueue,
then there's no need to gift async_pf_execute() a reference because all
invocations of async_pf_execute() will be forced to complete before the
vCPU and its VM are destroyed/freed. And that in turn fixes the module
unloading bug as __fput() won't do module_put() on the last vCPU reference
until the vCPU has been freed, e.g. if closing the vCPU file also puts the
last reference to the KVM module.
Note that kvm_check_async_pf_completion() may also take the work item off
the completion queue and so also needs to flush the work queue, as the
work will not be seen by kvm_clear_async_pf_completion_queue(). Waiting
on the workqueue could theoretically delay a vCPU due to waiting for the
work to complete, but that's a very, very small chance, and likely a very
small delay. kvm_arch_async_page_present_queued() unconditionally makes a
new request, i.e. will effectively delay entering the guest, so the
remaining work is really just:
trace_kvm_async_pf_completed(addr, cr2_or_gpa);
__kvm_vcpu_wake_up(vcpu);
mmput(mm);
and mmput() can't drop the last reference to the page tables if the vCPU is
still alive, i.e. the vCPU won't get stuck tearing down page tables.
Add a helper to do the flushing, specifically to deal with "wakeup all"
work items, as they aren't actually work items, i.e. are never placed in a
workqueue. Trying to flush a bogus workqueue entry rightly makes
__flush_work() complain (kudos to whoever added that sanity check).
Note, commit 5f6de5cbebee ("KVM: Prevent module exit until al
---truncated---
Weakness: CWE-400 (Uncontrolled Resource Consumption)
## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-26976?
It affects 2 products.
Products: Debian Debian Linux, Linux kernel.
## How do I fix CVE-2024-26976?
Apply the vendor's patch.
## Is CVE-2024-26976 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-26976 in the wild and no public exploit code.
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## Fix prompt for AI coding agents
```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2024-26976 and fix it if it is affected.
What it is: CVE-2024-26976 is a high-severity vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 1 May 2024. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-26976 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Affected product: Debian Debian Linux. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.
Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.
Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-26976/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-26976/index.md)
```
## Sources
- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-26976
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-26976
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-26976
---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-26976/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.