# CVE-2026-72286: KVM: SEV: Do not allow intra-host migration/mirroring of SNP VMs

> Attackers could exploit incomplete SEV-SNP VM migration features to cause state inconsistencies or undefined behavior in virtualized environments.

- **Severity:** High 8.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/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:** 15 Aug 2026
- **Updated:** 16 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2026-72286, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-72286, GHSA-ghw4-q5h4-h5hf, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-72286

## What is CVE-2026-72286?

CVE-2026-72286 is a high-severity 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: SEV: Do not allow intra-host migration/mirroring of SNP VMs

The intra-host migration/mirroring feature is not fully implemented for
SEV-SNP VMs. The proper migration requires additional SNP-specific
state such as guest_req_mutex, guest_req_buf, and guest_resp_buf to be
transferred or initialized on the destination.

The SNP VM mirroring requires vmsa features to be copied as well otherwise
ASID would be bound to SNP range while VM is detected as a SEV VM.

Reject SNP source VMs in migration/mirroring until proper SNP state
transfer is implemented.

[sean: let lines poke past 80 chars, tag for stable]

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-72286?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-72286?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-72286 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-72286 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-72286 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-72286 is a high-severity 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-2026-72286 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-2026-72286/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-72286/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-72286
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-72286
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-72286

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-72286/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.