# CVE-2026-64288: KVM: arm64: nv: Avoid dereferencing NULL VNCR pseudo-TLB

> A race condition in the Linux kernel's KVM arm64 nested virtualization allows a local attacker to cause a denial of service via a NULL pointer dereference.

- **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:** 25 Jul 2026
- **Updated:** 17 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2026-64288, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-64288, GHSA-3fq6-32px-rfvq, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2026-64288, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-64288

## What is CVE-2026-64288?

CVE-2026-64288 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 25 Jul 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: arm64: nv: Avoid dereferencing NULL VNCR pseudo-TLB

VNCR TLB invalidation occurs from MMU notifiers or TLBI instructions,
and either can race against a vcpu not being onlined yet (no pseudo-TLB
allocated). Similarly, the TLB might be invalid, and the invalidation
should be skipped in this case.

Both kvm_invalidate_vncr_ipa() and kvm_invalidate_vncr_va() are
expected to perform the same checks, except that the latter doesn't
check for the allocation and blindly dereferences the pointer.

Solve this by introducing a new iterator built on top of the usual
kvm_for_each_vcpu() that checks for both of the above conditions,
and convert the two users to it.

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-64288?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-64288?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-64288 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-64288 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-2026-64288 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-64288 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 25 Jul 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-2026-64288 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-2026-64288/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-64288/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-64288
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-64288
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-64288

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-64288/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.