KVM: arm64: nv: Re-translate VNCR before injecting abort (CVE-2026-72278) | HOL Guard CVE

Critical · CVSS 9.3CVE-2026-72278

KVM: arm64: nv: Re-translate VNCR before injecting abort

Answer in brief

CVE-2026-72278 records a Critical severity (CVSS 9.3) vulnerability in KVM: arm64: nv: Re-translate VNCR before injecting abort. The current sources do not mark it as known exploited. The current feed maps Linux/Linux (generic), Linux/Linux (generic). Check affected ranges and fixed versions before updating.

Analysis pending evidence review

HOL Guard separates source facts from reviewed analysis. See the methodology.

Published Aug 15, 2026Updated Aug 17, 2026Source checked Sep 29, 2026First seen by HOL Aug 15, 2026Material review Aug 17, 2026

Upstream Advisory

Key facts

Risk: Critical · CVSS 9.3
Exploitation: Not marked as known exploited
Affected software: 2 mapped packages or products
Fix availability: Available

Why this deserves its current priority

CVSS is 9.3. The current sources do not mark it as known exploited. Treat this as a source-backed prioritization signal, not a statement about your environment.

Analysis status

Analysis pending evidence review

Factual feed record only; HOL analysis is not approved for indexing. Read the methodology.

Affected scope and exposure questions

The current feed maps Linux/Linux (generic), Linux/Linux (generic). Check affected ranges and fixed versions before updating.

Mapped affected packages and fixed versions
Package	Affected range	Fixed version
Linux/Linuxgeneric	>=2a359e072596fcb2e9e85017a865e3618a2fe5b5 <ea7a76d7d614b5f82b4d0785f9af3550e860a71a \|\| >=2a359e072596fcb2e9e85017a865e3618a2fe5b5 <0a5dd8cf4d58ea28da132c2097cd1c525302ac48 \|\| >=2a359e072596fcb2e9e85017a865e3618a2fe5b5 <bb645aa0a4caeaf7f9cd32e9a948594d434c1a8f	ea7a76d7d614b5f82b4d0785f9af3550e860a71a, 0a5dd8cf4d58ea28da132c2097cd1c525302ac48, bb645aa0a4caeaf7f9cd32e9a948594d434c1a8f
Linux/Linuxgeneric	6.16	Not reported

Recommended response

Check inventory. Check lockfiles and deployed manifests for Linux/Linux, Linux/Linux.
Review the reported fix. Update Linux/Linux to ea7a76d7d614b5f82b4d0785f9af3550e860a71a if you use the affected versions. Test the change in a non-production environment first.

Evidence timeline and material changes

Published upstream
Aug 15, 2026
Evidence: source:cvelist:source_dates:source-dates:record
Source modified
Aug 17, 2026
Evidence: source:cvelist:source_dates:source-dates:record
First seen by HOL
Aug 15, 2026

Sources and claim methodology

Upstream source description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: KVM: arm64: nv: Re-translate VNCR before injecting abort KVM faults in the VNCR page with FOLL_WRITE whenever the guest aborts for a write, similar to how a regular stage-2 mapping is handled. It is entirely possible that the guest reads from the VNCR before writing to it, in which case the PFN could only be read-only. Invalidate the VNCR TLB and re-fetch the translation upon taking a VNCR abort, allowing the host mapping to be faulted in for write the second time around. Interestingly enough, this also satisfies the ordering requirements of FEAT_ETS2/3 between descriptor updates and MMU faults.

Quoted source text, attributed separately from HOL analysis.