# CVE-2026-52959: virt: sev-guest: Do not use host-controlled page order in cleanup path

> A malicious host can corrupt the page allocator in the Linux kernel's SEV-Guest driver by providing an invalid buffer length, potentially causing system crashes or privilege escalation.

- **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:** 24 Jun 2026
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2026-52959, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-52959, GHSA-rj55-92m8-99mg, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-52959

## What is CVE-2026-52959?

CVE-2026-52959 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 24 Jun 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:

virt: sev-guest: Do not use host-controlled page order in cleanup path

When issuing an extended guest request (SVM_VMGEXIT_EXT_GUEST_REQUEST),
get_ext_report() allocates a buffer to retrieve a certificate blob from the
host, keeping track of its size in report_req->certs_len.

However, the host may return SNP_GUEST_VMM_ERR_INVALID_LEN, indicating
an invalid buffer size, as well as the expected length of such buffer.
get_ext_report() subsequently updates report_req->certs_len with the
host-controlled value, and cleans up the buffer by computing a page order
from such value. This is incorrect, as the host-provided length may not
match the page order of the original allocation, potentially resulting
in corruption in the page allocator.

Fix this by using alloc_pages_exact() instead, and reusing @npages to
compute the size passed to free_pages_exact(). For consistency, also
use @npages to compute the size when allocating the pages, even though
this last change has no functional effect.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-52959?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-52959?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-52959 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-52959 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-2026-52959 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-52959 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 24 Jun 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-2026-52959 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-2026-52959/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-52959/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-52959
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-52959
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-52959

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-52959/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.