Bug 2481965 (CVE-2026-45944)

Summary: CVE-2026-45944 kernel: iommu/vt-d: Clear Present bit before tearing down context entry
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security <prodsec-ir-bot>
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Severity: medium Docs Contact:
Priority: medium    
Version: unspecifiedCC: rhel-process-autobot, watson-tool-maintainers
Target Milestone: ---Keywords: Security
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Hardware: All   
OS: Linux   
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A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's IOMMU (Input/Output Memory Management Unit) VT-d (Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O) component. When a context entry is being torn down, the 'Present' bit might not be cleared before other parts of the entry are zeroed. This can lead to the hardware reading an inconsistent state, resulting in unpredictable system behavior or spurious faults.
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-05-27 15:04:39 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

iommu/vt-d: Clear Present bit before tearing down context entry

When tearing down a context entry, the current implementation zeros the
entire 128-bit entry using multiple 64-bit writes. This creates a window
where the hardware can fetch a "torn" entry — where some fields are
already zeroed while the 'Present' bit is still set — leading to
unpredictable behavior or spurious faults.

While x86 provides strong write ordering, the compiler may reorder writes
to the two 64-bit halves of the context entry. Even without compiler
reordering, the hardware fetch is not guaranteed to be atomic with
respect to multiple CPU writes.

Align with the "Guidance to Software for Invalidations" in the VT-d spec
(Section 6.5.3.3) by implementing the recommended ownership handshake:

1. Clear only the 'Present' (P) bit of the context entry first to
   signal the transition of ownership from hardware to software.
2. Use dma_wmb() to ensure the cleared bit is visible to the IOMMU.
3. Perform the required cache and context-cache invalidation to ensure
   hardware no longer has cached references to the entry.
4. Fully zero out the entry only after the invalidation is complete.

Also, add a dma_wmb() to context_set_present() to ensure the entry
is fully initialized before the 'Present' bit becomes visible.