Host panic via block-mapping size assertion
Published Nov 12, 2025 · Updated May 11, 2026
Denial of service in Linux KVM 6.16 through 6.17.3 allows local users to panic an arm64 host by launching a protected guest. The assert_host_shared_guest checks in __pkvm_host_relax_perms_guest and __pkvm_host_mkyoung_guest wrongly require a single-page size when the mapping can be a huge-page block. The path requires transparent huge pages and CONFIG_NVHE_EL2_DEBUG; the failed WARN_ON stops the host rather than only the guest.
Summary
What happened
Denial of service in Linux KVM 6.16 through 6.17.3 allows local users to panic an arm64 host by launching a protected guest. The assert_host_shared_guest checks in __pkvm_host_relax_perms_guest and __pkvm_host_mkyoung_guest wrongly require a single-page size when the mapping can be a huge-page block. The path requires transparent huge pages and CONFIG_NVHE_EL2_DEBUG; the failed WARN_ON stops the host rather than only the guest.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2025-40184
- Published
- Nov 12, 2025
- Updated
- May 11, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- Unavailable
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Nov 12, 2025CVE 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=6.16
- Affected versionversion=f28f1d02f4eaac05c2ad6bf7264a8696dc21d011 <2ba972bf71cb71d2127ec6c3db1ceb6dd0c73173
- Affected versionversion=f28f1d02f4eaac05c2ad6bf7264a8696dc21d011 <4f7af3d8a1177c807d1f2563c7c171700b020656
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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Attacks
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Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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