Host crash via unretained VGIC interrupt reference
Published Feb 23, 2024 · Updated Aug 5, 2026
Use-after-free in KVM arm64's VGIC ITS on affected Linux kernel branches allows guest OS users to interrupt the host through a cache race. vgic_its_check_cache() drops the refcount-serialization lock without retaining the returned vgic_irq, so concurrent invalidation can free it before interrupt queueing finishes. Exploitation requires an arm64 KVM guest with VGIC ITS access and precise overlap between an LPI cache hit and an invalidating command; the bounded consequence is host instability or a crash.
Summary
What happened
Use-after-free in KVM arm64's VGIC ITS on affected Linux kernel branches allows guest OS users to interrupt the host through a cache race. vgic_its_check_cache() drops the refcount-serialization lock without retaining the returned vgic_irq, so concurrent invalidation can free it before interrupt queueing finishes. Exploitation requires an arm64 KVM guest with VGIC ITS access and precise overlap between an LPI cache hit and an invalidating command; the bounded consequence is host instability or a crash.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2024-26598
- Published
- Feb 23, 2024
- Updated
- Aug 5, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- CWE-416, T1499
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Feb 23, 2024CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Aug 5, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
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- Affected versionversion=3.11
- Affected versionversion=6211753fdfd05af9e08f54c8d0ba3ee516034878 <12c2759ab1343c124ed46ba48f27bd1ef5d2dff4
- Affected versionversion=6211753fdfd05af9e08f54c8d0ba3ee516034878 <65b201bf3e9af1b0254243a5881390eda56f72d1
- Affected versionversion=6211753fdfd05af9e08f54c8d0ba3ee516034878 <ad362fe07fecf0aba839ff2cc59a3617bd42c33f
- Affected versionversion=6211753fdfd05af9e08f54c8d0ba3ee516034878 <ba7be666740847d967822bed15500656b26bc703
- Affected versionversion=6211753fdfd05af9e08f54c8d0ba3ee516034878 <d04acadb6490aa3314f9c9e087691e55de153b88
- Affected versionversion=6211753fdfd05af9e08f54c8d0ba3ee516034878 <dba788e25f05209adf2b0175eb1691dc89fb1ba6
- Affected versionversion=6211753fdfd05af9e08f54c8d0ba3ee516034878 <dd3956a1b3dd11f46488c928cb890d6937d1ca80
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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Attacks
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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