Bug 2454778 (CVE-2026-23425)

Summary: CVE-2026-23425 kernel: KVM: arm64: Fix ID register initialization for non-protected pKVM guests
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
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OS: Linux   
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A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine) for ARM64 architectures. This vulnerability arises from improper initialization of ID registers for non-protected pKVM (protected KVM) guests. A malicious guest operating system could exploit this by causing the hypervisor, the software that manages virtual machines, to fail in saving and restoring critical system registers during virtual machine context switches. This could lead to state corruption within the virtual machine, potentially affecting its stability and integrity.
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-04-03 14:02:04 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

KVM: arm64: Fix ID register initialization for non-protected pKVM guests

In protected mode, the hypervisor maintains a separate instance of
the `kvm` structure for each VM. For non-protected VMs, this structure is
initialized from the host's `kvm` state.

Currently, `pkvm_init_features_from_host()` copies the
`KVM_ARCH_FLAG_ID_REGS_INITIALIZED` flag from the host without the
underlying `id_regs` data being initialized. This results in the
hypervisor seeing the flag as set while the ID registers remain zeroed.

Consequently, `kvm_has_feat()` checks at EL2 fail (return 0) for
non-protected VMs. This breaks logic that relies on feature detection,
such as `ctxt_has_tcrx()` for TCR2_EL1 support. As a result, certain
system registers (e.g., TCR2_EL1, PIR_EL1, POR_EL1) are not
saved/restored during the world switch, which could lead to state
corruption.

Fix this by explicitly copying the ID registers from the host `kvm` to
the hypervisor `kvm` for non-protected VMs during initialization, since
we trust the host with its non-protected guests' features. Also ensure
`KVM_ARCH_FLAG_ID_REGS_INITIALIZED` is cleared initially in
`pkvm_init_features_from_host` so that `vm_copy_id_regs` can properly
initialize them and set the flag once done.