CVE-2026-90243

iommu/vt-d: Clear Present bit before tearing down copied context entry

HIGH
8.1
CVSS Score
Published: September 17, 2026 at 04:07 PM UTC
Updated: October 19, 2026 at 09:19 AM UTC
1 product affected across 1 vendorLinux Kernel

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Severity
HIGH8.1
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.2%

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: iommu/vt-d: Clear Present bit before tearing down copied context entry copied_context_tear_down() zeroes the 128-bit context entry with context_clear_entry() while the Present bit is still set, and only then issues the context-cache and IOTLB invalidations. This leaves a window in which hardware can fetch a torn entry, with some fields already zeroed while Present is still set, leading to unpredictable behaviour or spurious faults. While x86 provides strong write ordering, the compiler may reorder the writes to the two 64-bit halves of the entry, and the hardware fetch is not guaranteed to be atomic with respect to multiple CPU writes. There is no cacheline flush before the invalidation either, so on an IOMMU without coherent access to the context table the zeroed entry may not be visible to hardware at the point the invalidation is submitted. Apply the same ownership handshake described in the VT-d spec, Section 6.5.3.3 ("Guidance to Software for Invalidations"): clear only the Present bit, flush it out to the IOMMU, perform the invalidations, and only then zero the remainder of the entry.

Affected

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

6.12c7191984e5aade540f1a3845a116537c89572655
Vendor states this is fixed in 3c88cfedc7768b1ae2dc7ddc71547ae9a1aaff7d (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6b822d18c33af9d1e16a8e5e6aa6e656987b09de (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 97750a8dce79c1a9b2b2d2a020b61b800141996c (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in f532c57985b1a7d6b7e37e05506b46d413e5cca4 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.12 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.12.110 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.18.52 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 7.2.6 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 7.3 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 7.3-rc1 (unaffected)

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.

CVSS

8.1HIGHLinux
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusRECEIVED

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