# CVE-2026-72284: KVM: x86: Ignore pending PV EOI if the vCPU has since disabled PV EOIs

> A guest VM can trigger a kernel panic in the Linux KVM module by manipulating PV EOI states, causing a denial of service.

- **Severity:** High 7.1 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 15 Aug 2026
- **Updated:** 16 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2026-72284, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-72284, GHSA-4wpm-cf5q-x355, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-72284

## What is CVE-2026-72284?

CVE-2026-72284 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux, published on 15 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: x86: Ignore pending PV EOI if the vCPU has since disabled PV EOIs

Ignore KVM's internal "service pending PV EOI" request if the vCPU has
disabled PV EOIs since the request was made.  Asserting that PV EOIs are
enabled can fail if reading guest memory in pv_eoi_get_user() fails, i.e.
if pv_eoi_test_and_clr_pending() bails early, *and* the vCPU also disables
PV EOIs.

  kernel BUG at arch/x86/kvm/lapic.c:3338!
  Oops: invalid opcode: 0000 [#1] SMP
  CPU: 4 UID: 1000 PID: 890 Comm: pv_eoi_test Not tainted 7.0.0-d585aa5894d8-vm #337 PREEMPT
  Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS 0.0.0 02/06/2015
  RIP: 0010:kvm_lapic_sync_from_vapic+0x12b/0x140 [kvm]
  Call Trace:
   <TASK>
   kvm_arch_vcpu_ioctl_run+0x1075/0x1c30 [kvm]
   kvm_vcpu_ioctl+0x2d5/0x980 [kvm]
   __x64_sys_ioctl+0x8a/0xd0
   do_syscall_64+0xb5/0xb40
   entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x4b/0x53
   </TASK>
  Modules linked in: kvm_intel kvm irqbypass
  ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]---

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-72284?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-72284?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-72284 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-72284 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-72284 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-72284 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux, published on 15 Aug 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-2026-72284 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux. 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-2026-72284/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-72284/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-72284
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-72284
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-72284

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-72284/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.