iommu/vt-d: Clear Present bit before tearing down context entry
CVE-2026-45944 · published 27 May 2026
How serious is it
- Severity: high, CVSS score 7.5 out of 10.
- No exploit prediction (EPSS) score yet.
- Not on the CISA list of exploited vulnerabilities.
- No public exploit in Exploit-DB.
Is your app affected by CVE-2026-45944?
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Who is affected
- Linux Linux: ba39592764ed20cee09aae5352e603a27bf56b0d to < ab4aeab2d630e68be60ccbea3fcf76fa7c281a18, ba39592764ed20cee09aae5352e603a27bf56b0d to < c716a59e9977d751e5eb54bcfa6a80124cb5067b, ba39592764ed20cee09aae5352e603a27bf56b0d to < d2138abc8f0a7fce4101b7229b43b06811ed083d, ba39592764ed20cee09aae5352e603a27bf56b0d to < a922dbafb4a674d958d702038232d09a30daf770
- Linux Linux: 2.6.24
How to check
- Find out whether you run the affected product and which version, then compare it with the versions above.
How to fix
Copies a prompt for Claude Code, Cursor or Codex that asks it to check whether you run this product.
- Apply the vendor's update or mitigation from the references below. If there is none yet, limit exposure of the affected service until there is.
- If a vulnerable version was live, check your logs and rotate the secrets that server could read.
The advisory
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
iommu/vt-d: Clear Present bit before tearing down context entry
When tearing down a context entry, the current implementation zeros the
entire 128-bit entry using multiple 64-bit writes. This creates a window
where the hardware can fetch a "torn" entry — where some fields are
already zeroed while the 'Present' bit is still set — leading to
unpredictable behavior or spurious faults.
While x86 provides strong write ordering, the compiler may reorder writes
to the two 64-bit halves of the context entry. Even without compiler
reordering, the hardware fetch is not guaranteed to be atomic with
respect to multiple CPU writes.
Align with the "Guidance to Software for Invalidations" in the VT-d spec
(Section 6.5.3.3) by implementing the recommended ownership handshake:
1. Clear only the 'Present' (P) bit of the context entry first to
signal the transition of ownership from hardware to software.
2. Use dma_wmb() to ensure the cleared bit is visible to the IOMMU.
3. Perform the required cache and context-cache invalidation to ensure
hardware no longer has cached references to the entry.
4. Fully zero out the entry only after the invalidation is complete.
Also, add a dma_wmb() to context_set_present() to ensure the entry
is fully initialized before the 'Present' bit becomes visible.
Check your whole app
Dependencies are only half of it. Free and read-only: before you push, run npx shippable-dev scan localhost:3000 in your project folder, no account needed. For your live app, you prove it's yours with a one-line tag first.
References
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/ab4aeab2d630e68be60ccbea3fcf76fa7c281a18
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/c716a59e9977d751e5eb54bcfa6a80124cb5067b
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/d2138abc8f0a7fce4101b7229b43b06811ed083d
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/a922dbafb4a674d958d702038232d09a30daf770
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/c1e4f1dccbe9d7656d1c6872ebeadb5992d0aaa2
Merged from CVE List. Last updated 25 Oct 2026. All vulnerabilities · RSS · JSON