# CVE-2026-45894: iommu/vt-d: Clear Present bit before tearing down PASID entry

> A race condition in the Linux kernel IOMMU driver can cause hardware faults or unpredictable behavior during PASID entry teardown.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/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:** 27 May 2026
- **Updated:** 21 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-88701, BELL-CVE-2026-45894, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-45894, GHSA-8pm8-q9qq-gqgp, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2026-45894, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2026-45894, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2026-45894, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2026-45894, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-45894

## What is CVE-2026-45894?

CVE-2026-45894 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 27 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:

iommu/vt-d: Clear Present bit before tearing down PASID entry

The Intel VT-d Scalable Mode PASID table entry consists of 512 bits (64
bytes). When tearing down an entry, the current implementation zeros the
entire 64-byte structure immediately using multiple 64-bit writes.

Since the IOMMU hardware may fetch these 64 bytes using multiple
internal transactions (e.g., four 128-bit bursts), updating or zeroing
the entire entry while it is active (P=1) risks a "torn" read. If a
hardware fetch occurs simultaneously with the CPU zeroing the entry, the
hardware could observe an inconsistent state, leading to unpredictable
behavior or spurious faults.

Follow the "Guidance to Software for Invalidations" in the VT-d spec
(Section 6.5.3.3) by implementing the recommended ownership handshake:

1. Clear only the 'Present' (P) bit of the PASID entry.
2. Use a dma_wmb() to ensure the cleared bit is visible to hardware
   before proceeding.
3. Execute the required invalidation sequence (PASID cache, IOTLB, and
   Device-TLB flush) to ensure the hardware has released all cached
   references.
4. Only after the flushes are complete, zero out the remaining fields
   of the PASID entry.

Also, add a dma_wmb() in pasid_set_present() to ensure that all other
fields of the PASID entry are visible to the hardware before the Present
bit is set.

Weakness: CWE-362 (Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-45894?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-45894?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-45894 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-45894 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-2026-45894 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-45894 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 27 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-2026-45894 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-2026-45894/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-45894/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-45894
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-45894
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-45894

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-45894/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.