Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain
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AccessGain local execution on affected device
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DeliveryInvoke __pkvm_guest_relinquish_to_host hypercall
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ExploitSupply improperly validated input
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ExecutionTrigger out-of-bounds write in mem_protect.c
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ImpactDenial of service
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A05:2025 - Injection
ASVS 5.0
V2 - Validation and Business Logic Input validation, allowlisting
|
| Exploitation Conditions | Exploitation requires local access to the device and the ability to reach the pKVM (protected KVM) guest hypercall interface - specifically the __pkvm_guest_relinquish_to_host operation in mem_protect.c - meaning the device must be running Android's protected-KVM hypervisor with guest VMs, a feature limited to pKVM-capable ARM64 Android builds rather than every Android device. Per the CVSS vector (PR:N/UI:N) no additional execution privileges and no user interaction are needed once that path is reachable. Limiting factors: the attacker must already have local code execution able to issue the vulnerable hypercall, impact is confined to availability (denial of service, no code execution or data exposure), and devices without pKVM protected guests are not exposed. The exact malformed input that triggers the out-of-bounds write is not described in the available sources. |
| Impact | This is a moderate-severity, low-urgency issue rather than a top-priority emergency. The CVSS 3.1 vector (AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H, 6.2) describes a locally-triggered flaw with availability-only impact (C:N/I:N) - an out-of-bounds write in Android's pKVM hypervisor path that leads to denial of service, not code execution or data disclosure. All real-world exploitation signals point the same direction and reinforce low urgency: EPSS is 0.14% (3rd percentile), there is no CISA KEV listing, and no public exploit was identified (the only references are the two Android kernel patch commits and the security bulletin, not exploit code). The vuln.today decision label is 'this_month', consistent with a bug to patch on the normal maintenance cycle rather than immediately. One point to verify: the description frames the flaw as a guest VM relinquishing memory to the host ('__pkvm_guest_relinquish_to_host'), which is a guest-to-host boundary, yet Android assigned S:U (scope unchanged); an OOB write in the hypervisor reachable from a guest could arguably warrant a scope change - confirm with the vendor whether host impact crosses a trust boundary. No data is strongly conflicting; the signals are internally consistent toward 'real but low real-world risk'. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | A local attacker with the ability to run code inside a protected guest VM (or otherwise reach the pKVM guest hypercall interface) invokes the __pkvm_guest_relinquish_to_host path with improperly validated input, triggering an out-of-bounds write in the hypervisor that crashes the affected component and denies service. No user interaction and no additional execution privileges are required per the CVSS vector and description. No public exploit code was identified at time of analysis; only vendor patch commits are published. |
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Alert meAnalysisAIv1 – Nov 03, 2026
Local denial of service in the Android kernel's protected-KVM (pKVM) hypervisor: an out-of-bounds write in __pkvm_guest_relinquish_to_host (mem_protect.c) lets code already running on the device crash the hypervisor by way of improper input validation, with no additional execution privileges and no user interaction required once the hypercall path is reachable. Per the CVSS vector (AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N) impact is limited to availability (C:N/I:N/A:H); the device must be an ARM64 Android build running pKVM with guest VMs, so generic Android devices without protected guests are not exposed. No public exploit code was identified at time of analysis, and EPSS is low at 0.14% (3rd percentile); the vulnerability is confirmed addressed through upstream Android common kernel commits referenced in the November 2026 Android security bulletin.
RemediationAI
Vendor-released fix: apply the Android security bulletin 2026-11-01 update (https://source.android.com/docs/security/bulletin/2026/2026-11-01), which incorporates the Android common kernel changes at https://android.googlesource.com/kernel/common/+/4a75aa4e840f294efd47084e083a6e91069bce58 and https://android.googlesource.com/kernel/common/+/525cfccadb92e7c9314d03cce600fed7335874d9; kernel integrators building from source should cherry-pick both commits into their pKVM-enabled branches. The authoritative assessment notes that exploitation requires local code execution able to issue the vulnerable hypercall, so restricting the ability to run untrusted local code and untrusted guest VMs on pKVM-capable builds reduces exposure - the trade-off being loss of the guest isolation workload those devices were provisioned for. Devices and builds that do not run pKVM with protected guests are not exposed and do not require emergency action; no public exploit code was identified at time of analysis, and EPSS is 0.14%, so this is a scheduled-maintenance item rather than an emergency patch.
Affected VersionsENISA
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Technical ContextAI · show details
pKVM (protected KVM) is Android's ARM64 confidential-computing hypervisor that runs at EL2 and isolates guest VM memory from the host kernel. The affected routine, __pkvm_guest_relinquish_to_host in mem_protect.c, handles a guest-initiated hypercall that hands pages or memory ownership back to the host; the flaw is classified as CWE-20 improper input validation, which in this handler results in an out-of-bounds write (tagged Buffer Overflow). Because hypercall arguments come from the guest side, the handler must validate them before writing into hypervisor-owned structures; the supplied sources confirm the validation defect and the resulting OOB write but do not describe the specific malformed input or the exact field that fails validation - the trigger is not described in the available sources. Impact stays within availability: the CVSS vector carries C:N/I:N/A:H, so the assessment is a hypervisor-level crash/denial of service rather than a privilege escalation or memory-disclosure primitive. CPE data identifies Google Android (cpe:2.3:a:google:android) as the affected platform, and EUVD lists the Android kernel, consistent with a hypervisor fix delivered through the Android common kernel rather than an app-layer component.
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Severity by source
AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Locally-triggered hypercall needing no extra privileges or interaction (AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N); availability-only DoS (A:H, C:N/I:N); scope kept U per vendor though guest-to-host impact could warrant review.
Primary rating from Vendor (google_android).
CVSS VectorVendor: google_android
Lifecycle Timeline
3DescriptionCVE.org
In __pkvm_guest_relinquish_to_host of mem_protect.c, there is a possible out-of-bounds write due to improper input validation. This could lead to local denial of service with no additional execution privileges needed. User interaction is not needed for exploitation.
Threat Intelligence Overview
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
A buffer overflow occurs when a program writes more data to a memory buffer than it was allocated to hold, causing the excess data to spill into adjacent memory regions.
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EUVD-2026-115447
GHSA-4cxm-w29x-r59p
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
Exploit-DB