Bug 2528773 (CVE-2026-80895)

Summary: CVE-2026-80895 kernel: mshv: Order pt_vp_array publish against irqfd assertion path
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
Status: NEW --- QA Contact:
Severity: medium Docs Contact:
Priority: medium    
Version: unspecifiedCC: akhatavk, aos-team-art-private, asdas, dpaolell, jdelft, jupierce, lgarciaa, mbiarnes, ppalepu, ppostler, prdhamdh, rhel-process-autobot, sghai, sidsharm, suppawar, vlaad, watson-tool-maintainers
Target Milestone: ---Keywords: Security
Target Release: ---   
Hardware: All   
OS: Linux   
Whiteboard:
Fixed In Version: Doc Type: ---
Doc Text:
A flaw was found in the `mshv` component of the Linux kernel. A local user could exploit a race condition during the creation of a Virtual Processor (VP) and the assertion of an interrupt file descriptor (irqfd). This could lead to the use of partially initialized VP fields, potentially causing system instability or a denial of service (DoS).
Story Points: ---
Clone Of: Environment:
Last Closed: Type: ---
Regression: --- Mount Type: ---
Documentation: --- CRM:
Verified Versions: Category: ---
oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team: --- Target Upstream Version:
Embargoed:

Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-09-04 17:31:02 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

mshv: Order pt_vp_array publish against irqfd assertion path

mshv_partition_ioctl_create_vp() initialises a VP struct (allocations,
mutex_init, init_waitqueue_head, page mappings) and then publishes the
pointer into partition->pt_vp_array.  Several ISR paths read this array
locklessly: the intercept ISR, the two scheduler ISRs, and
mshv_try_assert_irq_fast() on the irqfd fast path.

Of these, only mshv_try_assert_irq_fast() can structurally race the
publish.  It runs from an eventfd waker without holding pt_mutex, and
MSHV_IRQFD does not require the target lapic_apic_id (== vp_index) to
refer to an existing VP at registration time.  A user can therefore
register an irqfd targeting a yet-to-be-created VP, then trigger
mshv_try_assert_irq_fast() concurrently with MSHV_CREATE_VP for the
same index.  On weakly-ordered architectures the reader can observe a
non-NULL pointer in pt_vp_array before the initialising stores to the
VP struct become visible, leading to use of partially-initialised
fields (e.g. vp_register_page).

The other ISR readers cannot reach this race: the hypervisor will not
generate intercept or scheduler messages for a VP that has never been
told to run, and the user can only call MSHV_RUN_VP on the VP fd
returned by MSHV_CREATE_VP, which by construction is returned after
the publish.  Leave those readers as plain loads.

Use smp_store_release() in mshv_partition_ioctl_create_vp() to publish
the pointer, and pair it with smp_load_acquire() in
mshv_try_assert_irq_fast().  On x86 these compile to plain accesses
under TSO; on ARM64 they emit one-instruction acquire/release barriers,
acceptable on this fast path.

The destroy-side path (destroy_partition() clearing pt_vp_array[i] to
NULL after kfree(vp)) has a separate ordering and lifetime concern
that is out of scope here.