CVE-2024-26691: KVM: arm64: Fix circular locking dependency

Severity: medium (CVSS 5.5 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.2% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2024-04-03 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-667

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: KVM: arm64: Fix circular locking dependency The rule inside kvm enforces that the vcpu->mutex is taken *inside* kvm->lock. The rule is violated by the pkvm_create_hyp_vm() which acquires the kvm->lock while already holding the vcpu->mutex lock from kvm_vcpu_ioctl(). Avoid the circular locking dependency altogether by protecting the hyp vm handle with the config_lock, much like we already do for other forms of VM-scoped data.

Affected products

Linux kernel: before 6.6.18; from 6.7 before 6.7.6; 6.8-rc1, 6.8-rc2, 6.8-rc3, 6.8-rc4 — fixed in 6.6.18, 6.7.6

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 6.6.18, 6.7.6. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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