Kernel crash via Xen event-channel cleanup race
Published Apr 3, 2024 · Updated May 11, 2026
Race condition in Linux kernel Xen event handling allows local users to crash the kernel by concurrently recycling event channels. The shutdown_pirq and __unbind_from_irq paths close an event channel before clearing evtchn_to_irq, allowing startup_pirq to reuse the channel before cleanup invalidates its new mapping. Triggering the kernel BUG requires a Xen guest and concurrent IRQ teardown and startup, observed during NVMe probing with many devices.
Summary
What happened
Race condition in Linux kernel Xen event handling allows local users to crash the kernel by concurrently recycling event channels. The shutdown_pirq and __unbind_from_irq paths close an event channel before clearing evtchn_to_irq, allowing startup_pirq to reuse the channel before cleanup invalidates its new mapping. Triggering the kernel BUG requires a Xen guest and concurrent IRQ teardown and startup, observed during NVMe probing with many devices.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2024-26687
- Published
- Apr 3, 2024
- Updated
- May 11, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- CWE-459, T1499
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Apr 3, 2024CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- May 11, 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?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=2.6.37
- Affected versionversion=d46a78b05c0e37f76ddf4a7a67bf0b6c68bada55 <0fc88aeb2e32b76db3fe6a624b8333dbe621b8fd
- Affected versionversion=d46a78b05c0e37f76ddf4a7a67bf0b6c68bada55 <20980195ec8d2e41653800c45c8c367fa1b1f2b4
- Affected versionversion=d46a78b05c0e37f76ddf4a7a67bf0b6c68bada55 <585a344af6bcac222608a158fc2830ff02712af5
- Affected versionversion=d46a78b05c0e37f76ddf4a7a67bf0b6c68bada55 <9470f5b2503cae994098dea9682aee15b313fa44
- Affected versionversion=d46a78b05c0e37f76ddf4a7a67bf0b6c68bada55 <9be71aa12afa91dfe457b3fb4a444c42b1ee036b
- Affected versionversion=d46a78b05c0e37f76ddf4a7a67bf0b6c68bada55 <ea592baf9e41779fe9a0424c03dd2f324feca3b3
- Affected versionversion=d46a78b05c0e37f76ddf4a7a67bf0b6c68bada55 <fa765c4b4aed2d64266b694520ecb025c862c5a9
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
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Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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