CVE-2026-46316

Published Jun 9, 2026

Last updated 3 days ago

Overview

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Automated description summarized from trusted sources.

CVE-2026-46316, also known as "ITScape," is a vulnerability found in the Linux kernel's Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) for ARM64 systems. Specifically, the flaw resides within the vgic-its (Virtual Generic Interrupt Controller – Interrupt Translation Service) component. This issue stems from a race condition that causes the translation cache's reference to an entry to be incorrectly dropped more than once during cache invalidation, leading to a "double-put" scenario and a use-after-free condition. This vulnerability allows a malicious guest virtual machine to escape its isolated environment and execute arbitrary commands on the host system with full kernel (root) privileges. Unlike typical virtualization escapes that target user-space components, ITScape exists entirely within the in-kernel KVM implementation, bypassing standard user-space protections. The exploit can be triggered through guest-side actions, such as crafted guest workloads performing specific GIC/ITS memory-mapped I/O operations, and a proof-of-concept exploit has been publicly released. Affected Linux kernel versions range from April 2024 to early June 2026.

Description: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: KVM: arm64: vgic-its: Drop the translation cache reference only for the erased entry vgic_its_invalidate_cache() walks the per-ITS translation cache with xa_for_each() and drops the cache's reference on each entry with vgic_put_irq(). It puts the iterated pointer, though, rather than the value returned by xa_erase(). The function is called from contexts that do not exclude one another: the ITS command handlers hold its_lock, the GITS_CTLR write path holds cmd_lock, and the path that clears EnableLPIs in a redistributor's GICR_CTLR holds neither. Two or more of them can drain the same cache concurrently, and if each one observes the same entry, erases it and then puts it, the single reference the cache holds on that entry is dropped more than once. The entry can then be freed while an ITE still maps it. xa_erase() is atomic and returns the previous entry, so put only the entry that this context actually removed. The cache reference is then dropped exactly once per entry even when the invalidations run concurrently, and the behavior is unchanged when only one context runs.
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
NVD status: Received

Hype score: Not currently trending

References

Sources include official advisories and independent security research.

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