CVE-2026-98720

Status: ReceivedUnscored—

Severity—Unscored

Exploitation probability0.17 %higher than 6% of CVEs

Active exploitationNonot in the CISA catalog

Public exploitNot knownno public code found

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

KVM: nVMX: Force MSR bitmap refresh if runtime eVMCS controls are modified

Force a refresh of the vmcs02 MSR bitmap during nested VM-Enter if the runtime eVMCS controls (pin, primary, secondary, etc.) are being updated. If L1 isn't intercepting TPR writes, runs L2 with TPR virtualization, and then runs the same L2 with TPR virtualization disabled, KVM will fail to refresh msr_bitmap02 and leave TPR in passthrough mode even though TPR virtualization is disabled. I.e. failure to refresh the bitmap lets L2 (or L1 by proxy) read and write L0's TPR.

CVSS

NVD hasn't assigned a CVSS score to this CVE (common since the April 2026 policy change).

Exploitation probability (EPSS)

Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 0.17 %
Percentile among all scored CVEs: 6
Score date: 10/20/2026

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).

Affected technologies (1)

⚠ AI-inferred from the description — NVD hasn't analyzed this CVE yet, these aren't verified CPEs.

Linux — Linux Kernel^AI

References

Show 4 references

Raw JSON (NVD)

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{
  "id": "CVE-2026-98720",
  "cveTags": [],
  "metrics": {},
  "affected": [
    {
      "source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
      "affectedData": [
        {
          "repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
          "vendor": "Linux",
          "product": "Linux",
          "versions": [
            {
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "502d2bf5f2fd7c05adc2d4f057910bd5d4c4c63e",
              "lessThan": "2db11598b59f16ddb6420693f9a4ac4efc3d4789",
              "versionType": "git"
            },
            {
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "502d2bf5f2fd7c05adc2d4f057910bd5d4c4c63e",
              "lessThan": "f6189e26d0237e47e2f04f9cb1e43fd19a9b2f3a",
              "versionType": "git"
            },
            {
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "502d2bf5f2fd7c05adc2d4f057910bd5d4c4c63e",
              "lessThan": "1e497e3bdab6983deb68a1d26b488027deb4527f",
              "versionType": "git"
            },
            {
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "502d2bf5f2fd7c05adc2d4f057910bd5d4c4c63e",
              "lessThan": "2abb25273c82061dd4670690c81c319c03740bf6",
              "versionType": "git"
            }
          ],
          "programFiles": [
            "arch/x86/kvm/vmx/nested.c"
          ],
          "defaultStatus": "unaffected"
        },
        {
          "repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
          "vendor": "Linux",
          "product": "Linux",
          "versions": [
            {
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "5.17"
            },
            {
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "0",
              "lessThan": "5.17",
              "versionType": "semver"
            },
            {
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "6.12.113",
              "versionType": "semver",
              "lessThanOrEqual": "6.12.*"
            },
            {
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "6.18.56",
              "versionType": "semver",
              "lessThanOrEqual": "6.18.*"
            },
            {
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "7.2.10",
              "versionType": "semver",
              "lessThanOrEqual": "7.2.*"
            },
            {
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "7.3",
              "versionType": "original_commit_for_fix",
              "lessThanOrEqual": "*"
            }
          ],
          "programFiles": [
            "arch/x86/kvm/vmx/nested.c"
          ],
          "defaultStatus": "affected"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "published": "2026-10-18T16:17:25.583",
  "references": [
    {
      "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1e497e3bdab6983deb68a1d26b488027deb4527f",
      "source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2abb25273c82061dd4670690c81c319c03740bf6",
      "source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2db11598b59f16ddb6420693f9a4ac4efc3d4789",
      "source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f6189e26d0237e47e2f04f9cb1e43fd19a9b2f3a",
      "source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67"
    }
  ],
  "vulnStatus": "Received",
  "descriptions": [
    {
      "lang": "en",
      "value": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nKVM: nVMX: Force MSR bitmap refresh if runtime eVMCS controls are modified\n\nForce a refresh of the vmcs02 MSR bitmap during nested VM-Enter if the\nruntime eVMCS controls (pin, primary, secondary, etc.) are being updated.\nIf L1 isn't intercepting TPR writes, runs L2 with TPR virtualization, and\nthen runs the same L2 with TPR virtualization disabled, KVM will fail to\nrefresh msr_bitmap02 and leave TPR in passthrough mode even though TPR\nvirtualization is disabled.  I.e. failure to refresh the bitmap lets L2 (or\nL1 by proxy) read and write L0's TPR."
    }
  ],
  "lastModified": "2026-10-19T10:19:36.230",
  "sourceIdentifier": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67"
}