CVE-2026-98433

Description

A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine) subsystem for PowerPC architectures. When handling secure virtual machines, a failure during secure memory paging fails to release allocated device memory and internal metadata. A local user can exploit this vulnerability by causing operations that trigger page-in errors, permanently consuming entries from the firmware-bounded secure memory pool. Over time, this resource exhaustion leads to a Denial of Service (DoS), rendering affected memory regions and virtual machines unusable.

Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details

Info alert:Important note

CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authority (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications).

The following CVSS metrics and score provided are preliminary and subject to review.

CVSS v3 Score Breakdown

Red HatNVDcve.org
Base Score2.5N/AN/A
Attack VectorLocalN/AN/A
Attack ComplexityHighN/AN/A
Privileges RequiredLowN/AN/A
User InteractionNoneN/AN/A
ScopeUnchangedN/AN/A
ConfidentialityNoneN/AN/A
Integrity ImpactNoneN/AN/A
Availability ImpactLowN/AN/A

Vector

Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L

Understanding the Weakness (CWE)

CWE-772

Availability

Technical Impact: DoS: Resource Consumption (Other); DoS: Resource Consumption (Memory); DoS: Resource Consumption (CPU)

An attacker that can influence the allocation of resources that are not properly released could deplete the available resource pool and prevent all other processes from accessing the same type of resource. Frequently-affected resources include memory, CPU, disk space, power or battery, etc.

Frequently Asked Questions

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