# CVE-2025-71202: iommu/sva: invalidate stale IOTLB entries for kernel address space

> An attacker can exploit stale IOTLB entries in the Linux kernel to achieve code execution or privilege escalation when SVA is enabled.

- **Severity:** High 8.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/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:** 14 Feb 2026
- **Updated:** 19 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-77724, BELL-CVE-2025-71202, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-71202, GHSA-c4h6-jgrf-pj9p, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2025-71202, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2025-71202, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-13-CVE-2025-71202, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2025-71202, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-71202, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-71202

## What is CVE-2025-71202?

CVE-2025-71202 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 14 Feb 2026. 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:

iommu/sva: invalidate stale IOTLB entries for kernel address space

Introduce a new IOMMU interface to flush IOTLB paging cache entries for
the CPU kernel address space.  This interface is invoked from the x86
architecture code that manages combined user and kernel page tables,
specifically before any kernel page table page is freed and reused.

This addresses the main issue with vfree() which is a common occurrence
and can be triggered by unprivileged users.  While this resolves the
primary problem, it doesn't address some extremely rare case related to
memory unplug of memory that was present as reserved memory at boot, which
cannot be triggered by unprivileged users.  The discussion can be found at
the link below.

Enable SVA on x86 architecture since the IOMMU can now receive
notification to flush the paging cache before freeing the CPU kernel page
table pages.

Weakness: CWE-457 (Use of Uninitialized Variable)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-71202?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-71202?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-71202 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-71202 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

- [CVE-2026-53266](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53266/): Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-6282](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-6282/): Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-0185](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-0185/): Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-2094](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-2094/): Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-53362](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53362/): Linux Kernel Unspecified (high 7.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2025-71202 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-71202 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 14 Feb 2026. 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-2025-71202 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux kernel. 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-2025-71202/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-71202/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-71202
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-71202
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-71202

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-71202/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.