CVE-2026-81627

Qemu-kvm: vapic writable rom alias can escape the option-rom window and expose locked smram

HIGH
8.2
CVSS Score
Published: September 18, 2026 at 10:54 AM UTC
Updated: October 30, 2026 at 08:17 PM UTC
3 products affected across 1 vendorEnterprise LinuxOpenShift Container PlatformOpenStack Platform

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Severity
HIGH8.2
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.2%
SSVC
PoC

Description

A flaw was found in QEMU. The VAPIC setup hypercall in hw/i386/vapic.c does not validate that the writable RAM alias remains within the option ROM window. A privileged guest user on a Q35/KVM machine can position this alias over locked SMRAM, bypassing chipset D_LCK protection and injecting code into System Management Mode memory.

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

All versions10
Vendor states this is fixed in 6 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 26 (unknown)

Remediation

No guide yet

No remediation guidance has been written for this CVE yet, and no fixed version or vendor advisory is recorded against it.

References (3)

VDB Entryx_refsource_REDHAT
Source: cverecord
https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-81627
Issue Trackingx_refsource_REDHAT
Source: cverecord
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2536950

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCPoCNot automatableTotal impact

SSVC signals action urgency (what to patch first), separate from CVSS which measures severity.

CVSS

8.2HIGHredhat
Attack Vector
LOCAL
Complexity
LOW
Privileges
HIGH
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
CHANGED
Confidentiality
HIGH
Integrity
HIGH
Availability
HIGH
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusAWAITING ANALYSIS
CWE
CWE-787

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