KernelScan.io

HIGH Introduced in 5.7

vhost IotlbEntries Leak

CVE-2026-74713

CVSS 7.1 / 10.0 NVD

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

KernelScan AI7.0HIGH

01

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: vhost_iotlb: bound map allocation in add_range vhost_iotlb_add_range_ctx() only retires an old entry when the table has a non-zero limit, has exactly reached that limit and has VHOST_IOTLB_FLAG_RETIRE set. Non-retiring tables can keep allocating entries after reaching their configured limit. Existing vhost devices allocate their IOTLB with max_iotlb_entries from vhost.c, which defaults to 2048 and is tunable by module parameter. Use the caller-provided limit at the allocation point instead of adding a separate default in the common IOTLB helper, and reject non-positive values in vhost paths that can report an error. Other vhost IOTLB users should not create zero-limit tables when entries can be populated from userspace or guest-controlled requests. Add caller-side max_iotlb_entries parameters for mlx5 vDPA, VDUSE and vhost-vDPA. Reject non-positive VDUSE and vhost-vDPA values, and require at least two entries for vdpa_sim and mlx5 vDPA paths that install full-range mappings, since those mappings are split into two IOTLB entries. Handle full-range mappings in the common helper by checking that the IOTLB can hold both split entries before inserting the first half. This avoids returning an error after leaving a half mapping behind. When the table is full, keep the existing retire behavior for retiring tables and return -ENOSPC for non-retiring tables. Reuse the retired map node instead of freeing it and allocating a replacement, so a stream of IOTLB updates cannot keep forcing GFP_ATOMIC allocations after the table has reached its limit. If a zero-limit IOTLB still reaches the common helper, treat it as a configuration error and return -EINVAL. I found this bug myself, though the patch was written with AI assistance.

02

Engine v0.6.0

Risk summary

Hosts running vDPA or vhost devices with virtio guests are at risk. A malicious guest VM can consume unbounded host kernel memory by sending many IOTLB mapping requests, potentially causing system-wide OOM conditions. The vulnerability requires no host-side privileges from the attacker, only that a vDPA device is assigned to the guest.

Affecteddrivers/vhost/iotlb.c (vhost IOTLB)

Vulnerability analysis

The vhost IOTLB helper that manages I/O translation entries for virtio devices does not enforce allocation limits when a table is created with a zero entry limit. Several vDPA and vhost drivers create such unlimited tables, so a malicious guest VM or local process can continuously add mapping entries and consume unbounded host kernel memory until the system reaches OOM. The fix requires all IOTLB tables to have a positive size limit, rejects further insertions when non-retiring tables are full, reuses retired entries instead of repeatedly allocating replacements, and validates that sufficient capacity exists for both halves of a split full-range mapping before inserting the first half. The primary attack path is from a guest VM through its virtio device to a host running vDPA hardware or vhost-vDPA, requiring no host-side privileges from the attacker; secondary paths through VDUSE or vhost require local privileged access to create the device.

03

BranchIntroducedFixed inPatch commit
6.125.76.12.114eb70200e3477
6.185.76.18.57b57164cdddb4
6.65.76.6.16096da3e1439e7
7.15.77.1.9ae128dd19040
mainline5.77.21ed35ac7f3fe

04

State of the newest release of each Civil Infrastructure Platform SLTS tree, from CIP's own fix records.

CIP treeState
cip/6.12Affected — no CIP fix yet (latest 6.12.112-cip33)
cip/6.1Affected — no CIP fix yet (latest 6.1.189-cip61)
cip/6.1-rtAffected — no CIP fix yet (latest 6.1.189-cip61-rt32)
cip/5.10Affected — no CIP fix yet (latest 5.10.271-cip78)
cip/5.10-rtAffected — no CIP fix yet (latest 5.10.268-cip77-rt34)