CVE-2026-81627 Qemu-kvm: vapic writable rom alias can escape the option-rom window and expose locked smram
A privileged guest user can bypass SMRAM protection to inject code into System Management Mode via a QEMU VAPIC validation flaw.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- An administrator
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-81627?
CVE-2026-81627 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10, published on 18 Sep 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Official description
A flaw was found in QEMU. The VAPIC setup hypercall in hw/i386/vapic.c does not validate that the writable RAM alias remains within the option ROM window. A privileged guest user on a Q35/KVM machine can position this alias over locked SMRAM, bypassing chipset D_LCK protection and injecting code into System Management Mode memory.
Weakness: CWE-787
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-81627?
How do I fix CVE-2026-81627?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade to the fixed version. Memory-safe languages, compiler hardening and fuzzing prevent most new cases. More about Memory corruption.
Is CVE-2026-81627 being exploited?
It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2026-81627 exists.
Sources
Also known as AZL-105275, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-81627, ECHO-9519-9251-f2aa, GHSA-x7v7-qcr5-q66r, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-81627.