CVE-2026-98715: Linux Vulnerability

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: KVM: SVM: Preserve TLB control (i.e. pending TLB flush) on failed VMRUN Don't reset the VMCB's TLB control back to "do nothing" on a failed VMRUN, as empirical testing shows that the CPU performs the requested TLB flush if and only if VMRUN is successful, i.e. clearing TLB control on a failed VMRUN effectively drops a TLB flush. Explicitly track the need to flush all ASIDs on a per-CPU basis, as the ASID reuse condition is tied to the pCPU, not to the vCPU. As a bonus, this also obviates the need to avoid clobbering FLUSH_ALL_ASID with TLB_CONTROL_FLUSH_ASID, e.g. in svm_flush_tlb_asid(). Deliberately don't bother saving/restoring the "old" tlb_ctl on failure, in quotes because it's not exactly the old tlb_ctl, it's the tlb_ctl from after pre_svm_run(), but before updating tlb_ctl for flush_all_asids. If VMRUN fails and TLB_CONTROL_FLUSH_ALL_ASID is forced, then the next successful run of the VMCB *may* unnecessarily flush all ASIDs, which strictly speaking could result in noisy neighbor issues. However, the fact that new_asid() is already guest-triggerable, because of KVM's flawed behavior of clearing the ASID on emulated INIT, means that a guest can already trigger a flush of all ASIDs at roughly the same rate. And once KVM stops clobbering the ASID on emulated INIT, *or* assigns a static ASID to each vCPU, this flaw goes away.

Affected Software

Source: CNA advisory (CVE.org). NVD analysis pending.

Vendor	Product	Versions
Linux	Linux	>= 38e5e92fe8c02a8766459d505423b855caf9af1f, < fd873c3d1b5240e80365f09e758e8c96b88a7cdb; >= 38e5e92fe8c02a8766459d505423b855caf9af1f, < 60d93c27859fb3ec5b5a689e24de303f166477d0
Linux	Linux	2.6.38

References

Timeline

Published: Oct 18, 2026
Last Modified: Oct 19, 2026
Status: Received

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2026-98715?

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: KVM: SVM: Preserve TLB control (i.e. pending TLB flush) on failed VMRUN Don't reset the VMCB's TLB control back to "do nothing" on a failed VMRUN, as empirical testing shows that the CPU performs the requested TLB flush if and only if VMRUN is successful, i.e. clearing TLB control on a failed VMRUN effectively drops a TLB flush. Explicitly track the need to flush all ASIDs on a per-CPU basis, as the ASID reuse condition is tied to the pCPU, not to the vCPU. As a bonus, this also obviates the need to avoid clobbering FLUSH_ALL_ASID with TLB_CONTROL_FLUSH_ASID, e.g. in svm_flush_tlb_asid(). Deliberately don't bother saving/restoring the "old" tlb_ctl on failure, in quotes because it's not exactly the old tlb_ctl, it's the tlb_ctl from after pre_svm_run(), but before updating tlb_ctl for flush_all_asids. If VMRUN fails and TLB_CONTROL_FLUSH_ALL_ASID is forced, then the next successful run of the VMCB *may* unnecessarily flush all ASIDs, which strictly speaking could result in noisy neighbor issues. However, the fact that new_asid() is already guest-triggerable, because of KVM's flawed behavior of clearing the ASID on emulated INIT, means that a guest can already trigger a flush of all ASIDs at roughly the same rate. And once KVM stops clobbering the ASID on emulated INIT, *or* assigns a static ASID to each vCPU, this flaw goes away.

How severe is CVE-2026-98715?

Severity scoring for CVE-2026-98715 is pending analysis.

How do I fix CVE-2026-98715?

Check the vendor references and advisories linked above for patched versions and mitigation guidance. You can also run a Strix scan to test if your systems are affected.

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