CVE-2026-72287

Guest-to-host privilege escalation via stale CR3 restoration

Published Aug 15, 2026 · Updated Aug 15, 2026

Privilege escalation in Linux kernel 6.19 through 7.1.4 allows guest OS users to control host memory management via nested VMX. The late vmcs12 TPR-threshold consistency check loads guest state before validation and fails to restore vmcs01.GUEST_CR3 after rejecting that state. Exploitation requires Intel nested virtualization with EPT disabled and a malicious L1 guest supplying inconsistent vTPR and threshold state.

CVSS severity7.8
High
EPSS probability0.14%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Privilege escalation in Linux kernel 6.19 through 7.1.4 allows guest OS users to control host memory management via nested VMX. The late vmcs12 TPR-threshold consistency check loads guest state before validation and fails to restore vmcs01.GUEST_CR3 after rejecting that state. Exploitation requires Intel nested virtualization with EPT disabled and a malicious L1 guest supplying inconsistent vTPR and threshold state.

The record

CVE
CVE-2026-72287
Published
Aug 15, 2026
Updated
Aug 15, 2026
Vendor
The Linux Kernel Organization
Product
Linux
Classifications
CWE-367, T1068
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Aug 15, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Aug 15, 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.

  1. Affected versionversion=1100e4910ad207bc00aedc8dfdb228dd1b81f310 <7d066368f72e6192af7e21c5817626f6da666991
  2. Affected versionversion=1100e4910ad207bc00aedc8dfdb228dd1b81f310 <ebdac7554abb347ca4197be241116842161acd9b
  3. Affected versionversion=6.19

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

The Linux Kernel Organization · Linuxversion=1100e4910ad207bc00aedc8dfdb228dd1b81f310 <7d066368f72e6192af7e21c5817626f6da666991; version=1100e4910ad207bc00aedc8dfdb228dd1b81f310 <ebdac7554abb347ca4197be241116842161acd9b; version=6.19

Published CVSS scores

7.0Red HatCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
7.8Linux Kernel CNACVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
7.8SUSECVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 9, 2026Sep 15, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 15, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-367Time-of-check Time-of-use (TOCTOU) Race Condition
T1068Exploitation for Privilege Escalation

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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