Kernel crash via preemption during EFI context switching
Published Sep 17, 2026 · Updated Sep 17, 2026
Faulty EFI context switching in Linux 6.19 allows local users to trigger a kernel crash during EFI runtime service calls. In arch/arm64/kernel/efi.c, __efi_fpsimd_begin() permits voluntary preemption after installing EFI mappings, leaving TTBR0_EL1 incorrect on return. The reported fault requires arm64 software PAN and EFI runtime services; an attacker-controlled trigger and whole-system crash behavior are not documented.
Summary
What happened
Faulty EFI context switching in Linux 6.19 allows local users to trigger a kernel crash during EFI runtime service calls. In arch/arm64/kernel/efi.c, __efi_fpsimd_begin() permits voluntary preemption after installing EFI mappings, leaving TTBR0_EL1 incorrect on return. The reported fault requires arm64 software PAN and EFI runtime services; an attacker-controlled trigger and whole-system crash behavior are not documented.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-90212
- Published
- Sep 17, 2026
- Updated
- Sep 17, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- Unavailable
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Sep 17, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Sep 17, 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=6.19
- Affected versionversion=a5baf582f4c026c25a206ac121bceade926aec74 <829539c4a650544cb8e5e8690f2c2d0aa2c0e298
- Affected versionversion=a5baf582f4c026c25a206ac121bceade926aec74 <e98a9d0146372b046d863164025a66ab4488b972
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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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.
Activity data is delayed. The latest report is Sep 28, 2026.
Weakness, pattern, technique
No sourced classifications are available.
Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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