CVE-2026-64604 KVM: VMX: Grab vmcs12 on CR8 interception update iff vCPU is in guest mode
A local attacker can trigger a kernel warning and potential denial of service in KVM by creating a vCPU while nested virtualization is active.
- 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-2026-64604?
CVE-2026-64604 is a denial of service vulnerability in Linux, published on 6 Aug 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: VMX: Grab vmcs12 on CR8 interception update iff vCPU is in guest mode
When updating CR8 intercepts, get vmcs12 if and only if the vCPU is in guest mode so that a future change can have update CR8 intercepts during vCPU creation, without running afoul of get_vmcs12()'s lockdep assertion.
------------[ cut here ]------------ debug_locks && !(lock_is_held(&(&vcpu->mutex)->dep_map) || !refcount_read(&vcpu->kvm->users_count)) WARNING: arch/x86/kvm/vmx/nested.h:61 at get_vmcs12 arch/x86/kvm/vmx/nested.h:60 [inline], CPU#0: syz.2.19/5879 WARNING: arch/x86/kvm/vmx/nested.h:61 at vmx_update_cr8_intercept+0x3de/0x4e0 arch/x86/kvm/vmx/vmx.c:6879, CPU#0: syz.2.19/5879 Modules linked in: CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 5879 Comm: syz.2.19 Not tainted syzkaller #0 PREEMPT(full) Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS 1.16.2-debian-1.16.2-1 04/01/2014 RIP: 0010:get_vmcs12 arch/x86/kvm/vmx/nested.h:60 [inline] RIP: 0010:vmx_update_cr8_intercept+0x3de/0x4e0 arch/x86/kvm/vmx/vmx.c:6879 Call Trace: <TASK> apic_update_ppr arch/x86/kvm/lapic.c:984 [inline] kvm_lapic_reset+0x1c24/0x2980 arch/x86/kvm/lapic.c:3023 kvm_vcpu_reset+0x44c/0x1bf0 arch/x86/kvm/x86.c:12986 kvm_arch_vcpu_create+0x746/0x8b0 arch/x86/kvm/x86.c:12847 kvm_vm_ioctl_create_vcpu+0x428/0x930 virt/kvm/kvm_main.c:4201 kvm_vm_ioctl+0x893/0xd50 virt/kvm/kvm_main.c:5159 vfs_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:51 [inline] __do_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:597 [inline] __se_sys_ioctl+0xfc/0x170 fs/ioctl.c:583 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:63 [inline] do_syscall_64+0x174/0x580 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:94 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f </TASK>
No functional change intended.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-64604?
How do I fix CVE-2026-64604?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.
Is CVE-2026-64604 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-64604 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2026-64604, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-64604, GHSA-m98c-vhm9-hw9c, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-64604.