CVE-2026-53359

Status: ModifiedHigh (8.8)—

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

KVM: x86: Fix shadow paging use-after-free due to unexpected role

Commit 0cb2af2ea66ad ("KVM: x86: Fix shadow paging use-after-free due to unexpected GFN") fixed a shadow paging mismatch between stored and computed GFNs; the bug could be triggered by changing a PDE mapping from outside the guest, and then deleting a memslot. The rmap_remove() call would miss entries created after the PDE change because the GFN of the leaf SPTE does not match the GFN of the struct kvm_mmu_page.

A similar hole however remains if the modified PDE points to a non-leaf page. In this case the gfn can be made to match, but the role does not match: the original large 2MB page creates a kvm_mmu_page with direct=1, while the new 4KB needs a kvm_mmu_page with direct=0. However, kvm_mmu_get_child_sp() does not compare the role, and therefore reuses the page.

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The next step is installing a leaf (4KB) SPTE on the new path which records an rmap entry under the gfn resolved by the walk. But when that child is zapped its parent kvm_mmu_page has direct=1 and kvm_mmu_page_get_gfn() computes the gfn for the 4KB page as sp->gfn + index instead of using sp->shadowed_translation[] (or sp->gfns[] in older kernels). It therefore fails to remove the recorded entry.

When the memslot is dropped the shadow page is freed but the rmap entry survives, as in the scenario that was already fixed. Code that later walks that gfn (dirty logging, MMU notifier invalidation, and so on) dereferences an sptep that lies in the freed page, causing the use-after-free.

CVSS

Version: 3.1
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Base score: 8.8

Exploitation probability (EPSS)

Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 0.17%
Percentile among all scored CVEs: 6
Score date: 10/4/2026

EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System, FIRST) estimates how likely a vulnerability is to be exploited in the wild within 30 days. It complements CVSS (impact) and CISA KEV (confirmed exploitation).

🎯 ATT&CK techniques

How this vulnerability is exploited and what the attacker gains, in MITRE ATT&CK terms.

ExploitationT1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalationprivilege escalation85 %
Primary impactT1059 Command and Scripting Interpreterexecution75 %

Vulnerabilidad local de kernel (AV:L, PR:L) que permite ejecución de código tras liberar memoria; uso local de privilegios para alcanzar ejecución remota en contexto de máquina virtual KVM.

Inferred by our analysis agent from the official description, CVSS vector and CWE, and checked by a supervisor. May contain errors.

🛡️ ATT&CK mitigations that cover these techniques

Execution Prevention Threat Intelligence Program Restrict Web-Based Content Privileged Account Management Limit Software Installation Behavior Prevention on Endpoint

Affected technologies (1)

Linux — Linux Kernel

CWEs

CWE-416
CWE-416

References

Raw JSON (NVD)

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