Severity by source
Sources disagree (Medium–Critical)AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Local privileged device teardown is required (PR:L, AV:L) and success depends on winning a narrow timing race (AC:H); impact is memory corruption and DoS (I:H/A:H) with no clear data disclosure (C:N).
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CVSS VectorVendor: Linux
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Lifecycle Timeline
5DescriptionCVE.org
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
iommu/vt-d: Clear Present bit before tearing down scalable-mode context entry
device_pasid_table_teardown() zeroes the 128-bit scalable-mode context entry with context_clear_entry() while the Present bit is still set. This creates a window where the hardware can fetch a torn entry, with some fields already zeroed while Present is still set, leading to unpredictable behavior or spurious faults. The context-cache invalidation is issued only after the entry has been zeroed, and intel_pasid_free_table() then frees the PASID directory pages, so the IOMMU can keep walking a stale Present=1 entry that points at freed memory.
While x86 provides strong write ordering, the compiler may reorder the two 64-bit writes to the entry, and the hardware fetch is not guaranteed to be atomic with respect to multiple CPU writes.
Commit c1e4f1dccbe9d ("iommu/vt-d: Clear Present bit before tearing down context entry") fixed this exact pattern in domain_context_clear_one() and the copied-context path, but device_pasid_table_teardown() was not converted.
Align it with the "Guidance to Software for Invalidations" in the VT-d spec, Section 6.5.3.3, using the same ownership handshake as the sibling fix: clear only the Present bit, flush it to the IOMMU, perform the context-cache invalidation, and only then zero the rest of the entry.
AnalysisAI
Use-after-free / torn-entry race in the Linux kernel's Intel VT-d IOMMU driver (iommu/vt-d) lets the hardware walk a stale scalable-mode context entry pointing at freed PASID directory memory during device_pasid_table_teardown(), producing spurious DMA faults, unpredictable IOMMU behavior, and potential memory corruption. It affects Linux 6.8.2 through the 6.x/7.x stable series on systems using Intel scalable-mode (PASID) IOMMU translation. …
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Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata
Vulnerability AssessmentAI
| Exploitation | Requires a Linux host using the Intel VT-d IOMMU driver in scalable mode with PASID-based translation enabled (SVA/SIOV-style deployments); the vulnerable window only opens during device_pasid_table_teardown(), i.e., when a device's scalable-mode PASID table is being torn down (device detach/removal). … Additional conditions and limiting factors are described in the full assessment. |
| Risk Assessment | Signals are mixed and lean toward lower real-world urgency than the 9.3 CVSS suggests. … Full risk analysis with EPSS, KEV, and SSVC signal comparison available after sign-in. |
| Exploit Scenario | A local user or workload with access to device management (for example VFIO/PCI-passthrough operations in a virtualization host) repeatedly triggers PASID table teardown by attaching and detaching a device, racing the IOMMU's context-entry fetch against the freeing of the PASID directory. Hitting the timing window causes the IOMMU to walk freed memory, producing spurious DMA faults, kernel instability, or potential memory corruption. … |
| Remediation | Patch available per vendor advisory: update to a Linux stable kernel containing the fix - 6.12.97, 6.18.40, or 7.1.5 (or mainline 7.2-rc1 and later), applied via the stable-tree commits e9e83bcfe37dc719182500dd823c03ab57d934f0, 588718101e8449605f1c7e858fecb7cfa701cdab, 7fd4077dc92b91b1b844333c0a06bb9e286db10a, and f46452c3df7a8d8a5addc0926e76ef19ea7da0a0 (all at https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/<hash>). … Detailed patch versions, workarounds, and compensating controls in full report. |
Recommended ActionAI
Within 24 hours, identify all systems running Linux kernel versions 6.8.2 through 6.x/7.x with Intel PASID IOMMU translation enabled, prioritizing production infrastructure and servers. …
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EUVD-2026-59586
GHSA-3r9j-57rx-vfgp