Bug 2554987 (CVE-2026-98546) - CVE-2026-98546 kernel: arm64/boot: Disable trapping of PMZR_EL0 writes to EL2
Summary: CVE-2026-98546 kernel: arm64/boot: Disable trapping of PMZR_EL0 writes to EL2
Keywords:
Status: NEW
Alias: CVE-2026-98546
Product: Security Response
Classification: Other
Component: vulnerability
Version: unspecified
Hardware: All
OS: Linux
medium
medium
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Product Security DevOps Team
QA Contact:
URL:
Whiteboard:
Depends On:
Blocks:
TreeView+ depends on / blocked
 
Reported: 2026-10-18 15:37 UTC by OSIDB Bzimport
Modified: 2026-10-19 23:39 UTC (History)
17 users (show)

Fixed In Version:
Clone Of:
Environment:
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-10-18 15:37:36 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

arm64/boot: Disable trapping of PMZR_EL0 writes to EL2

__init_el2_fgt2() writes one mask to both HDFGRTR2_EL2 and HDFGWTR2_EL2.
PMZR_EL0 is write-only, so its trap bit, nPMZR_EL0, exists only in
HDFGWTR2_EL2 and is therefore never set: a PMZR_EL0 write from the host
traps to EL2, where the nVHE hypervisor has no handler and BUG()s. The
kernel never writes PMZR_EL0, but kernel.perf_user_access=1 has the PMU
driver set PMUSERENR_EL0.UEN for a task with a user-read event, so a
write from EL0 reaches the trap and takes the host down without a panic
message.

Accumulate the HDFGWTR2_EL2 bits separately, as __init_el2_fgt() already
does for HDFGWTR_EL2, and set nPMZR_EL0 with the other FEAT_PMUv3p9
bits.


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