CVE-2026-43214 KVM: x86: Add SRCU protection for reading PDPTRs in __get_sregs2()

High 7.8 Published 6 May 2026 Updated 19 Oct 2026

A race condition in KVM x86 PDPTR reading lacks SRCU protection, potentially causing kernel warnings or instability during guest memory access.

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

What is CVE-2026-43214?

CVE-2026-43214 is a high-severity 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:

KVM: x86: Add SRCU protection for reading PDPTRs in __get_sregs2()

Add SRCU read-side protection when reading PDPTR registers in __get_sregs2().

Reading PDPTRs may trigger access to guest memory: kvm_pdptr_read() -> svm_cache_reg() -> load_pdptrs() -> kvm_vcpu_read_guest_page() -> kvm_vcpu_gfn_to_memslot()

kvm_vcpu_gfn_to_memslot() dereferences memslots via __kvm_memslots(), which uses srcu_dereference_check() and requires either kvm->srcu or kvm->slots_lock to be held. Currently only vcpu->mutex is held, triggering lockdep warning:

============================= WARNING: suspicious RCU usage in kvm_vcpu_gfn_to_memslot 6.12.59+ #3 Not tainted

include/linux/kvm_host.h:1062 suspicious rcu_dereference_check() usage!

other info that might help us debug this:

rcu_scheduler_active = 2, debug_locks = 1 1 lock held by syz.5.1717/15100: #0: ff1100002f4b00b0 (&vcpu->mutex){+.+.}-{3:3}, at: kvm_vcpu_ioctl+0x1d5/0x1590

Call Trace: <TASK> __dump_stack lib/dump_stack.c:94 [inline] dump_stack_lvl+0xf0/0x120 lib/dump_stack.c:120 lockdep_rcu_suspicious+0x1e3/0x270 kernel/locking/lockdep.c:6824 __kvm_memslots include/linux/kvm_host.h:1062 [inline] __kvm_memslots include/linux/kvm_host.h:1059 [inline] kvm_vcpu_memslots include/linux/kvm_host.h:1076 [inline] kvm_vcpu_gfn_to_memslot+0x518/0x5e0 virt/kvm/kvm_main.c:2617 kvm_vcpu_read_guest_page+0x27/0x50 virt/kvm/kvm_main.c:3302 load_pdptrs+0xff/0x4b0 arch/x86/kvm/x86.c:1065 svm_cache_reg+0x1c9/0x230 arch/x86/kvm/svm/svm.c:1688 kvm_pdptr_read arch/x86/kvm/kvm_cache_regs.h:141 [inline] __get_sregs2 arch/x86/kvm/x86.c:11784 [inline] kvm_arch_vcpu_ioctl+0x3e20/0x4aa0 arch/x86/kvm/x86.c:6279 kvm_vcpu_ioctl+0x856/0x1590 virt/kvm/kvm_main.c:4663 vfs_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:51 [inline] __do_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:907 [inline] __se_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:893 [inline] __x64_sys_ioctl+0x18b/0x210 fs/ioctl.c:893 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:52 [inline] do_syscall_64+0xbd/0x1d0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:83 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f

Found by Linux Verification Center (linuxtesting.org) with Syzkaller.

Weakness: CWE-362

Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-43214?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2026-43214?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Is CVE-2026-43214 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-43214 in the wild and no public exploit code.

All Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Sources

Also known as BELL-CVE-2026-43214, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-43214, GHSA-5c3f-mcw3-6q2w, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2026-43214, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2026-43214, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-43214.