# CVE-2026-43096: mshv: Fix infinite fault loop on permission-denied GPA intercepts

> A malicious guest can cause an infinite fault loop in the Linux kernel's mshv driver, leading to host resource exhaustion and denial of service.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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:** 6 May 2026
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2026-43096, GHSA-6g6j-j4qf-ch65, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-43096

## What is CVE-2026-43096?

CVE-2026-43096 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 6 May 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:

mshv: Fix infinite fault loop on permission-denied GPA intercepts

Prevent infinite fault loops when guests access memory regions without
proper permissions. Currently, mshv_handle_gpa_intercept() attempts to
remap pages for all faults on movable memory regions, regardless of
whether the access type is permitted. When a guest writes to a read-only
region, the remap succeeds but the region remains read-only, causing
immediate re-fault and spinning the vCPU indefinitely.

Validate intercept access type against region permissions before
attempting remaps. Reject writes to non-writable regions and executes to
non-executable regions early, returning false to let the VMM handle the
intercept appropriately.

This also closes a potential DoS vector where malicious guests could
intentionally trigger these fault loops to consume host resources.

Weakness: CWE-835 (Loop with Unreachable Exit Condition)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-43096?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-43096?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-43096 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-43096 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-2026-43096 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-43096 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 6 May 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-2026-43096 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-2026-43096/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-43096/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-43096
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-43096
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-43096

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-43096/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.