CVE-2026-53359

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Last Modified: UTC

Important Important severity What does this mean?
7.8 CVSS v3 Score Breakdown

Description

A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) x86 shadow paging mechanism. This vulnerability occurs when a host page directory entry (PDE) mapping is changed from within the guest, leading to an unexpected role mismatch in shadow paging. This mismatch can cause a use-after-free condition, where the system attempts to access memory that has already been released. Such a condition can lead to system instability, denial of service, potentially the execution of arbitrary code or guest-to-host escape.

Statement

This is an Important flaw in the KVM x86 shadow paging mechanism where an attacker with privileged access inside the guest VM could trigger a use-after-free condition by manipulating page directory entries on the host. This could lead to system instability, denial of service, or potentially arbitrary code execution on the host.

In Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, nested virtualization for KVM is a Technology Preview feature and the nested parameter defaults to 0 (disabled) for both kvm_intel and kvm_amd.

Mitigation

This vulnerability can be mitigated by disabling nested virtualization. Create a file in `/etc/modprobe.d/` with a descriptive name, such as `cve-2026-53359-mitigation.conf`. In that file, disable nested virtualization for the `kvm_intel` and `kvm_amd` kernel modules:

options kvm-intel nested=0
options kvm-amd nested=0

Use `lsmod` to determine if either module is already loaded. If so, remove loaded modules with `modprobe -r`. To validate that nested virtualization is disabled, read the files `/sys/module/kvm_intel/parameters/nested` and `/sys/module/kvm_amd/parameters/nested`. If these modules are loaded, those files should read `N` to indicate that the feature is disabled.

In OpenShift 4, a MachineConfig can be utilized to create a modprobe configuration allowing control of the module on applicable nodes. See the following article for an example.

https://access.redhat.com/solutions/6979679

Additional information

External References

Affected Packages and Issued Red Hat Security Errata

Unless explicitly stated as not affected, all previous versions of packages in any minor update stream of a product listed here should be assumed vulnerable, although may not have been subject to full analysis.

Products / Services Components State Errata
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 kernel Fixed RHSA-2026:36956
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10.0 Extended Update Support kernel Fixed RHSA-2026:39371
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 kernel Not affected
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 kernel Out of support scope
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 kernel-rt Out of support scope
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 kernel-rt Fixed RHSA-2026:39082
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 kernel Fixed RHSA-2026:39083
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.8 Telecommunications Update Service kernel Fixed RHSA-2026:41229
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.8 Update Services for SAP Solutions kernel Fixed RHSA-2026:41229
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 kernel-rt Affected

Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details

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 Authorities (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications ).

CVSS v3 Score Breakdown

Red Hat NVD cve.org
CVSS v3 Base Score 7.8 N/A 8.8
Attack Vector Local N/A Local
Attack Complexity High N/A Low
Privileges Required Low N/A Low
User Interaction None N/A None
Scope Changed N/A Changed
Confidentiality Impact High N/A High
Integrity Impact High N/A High
Availability Impact High N/A High

CVSS v3 Vector

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

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is Red Hat's CVSS v3 score or Impact different from other vendors?

 For open source software shipped by multiple vendors, the CVSS base scores may vary for each vendor's version depending on the version they ship, how they ship it, the platform, and even how the software is compiled. This makes scoring of vulnerabilities difficult for third-party vulnerability databases such as NVD that only provide a single CVSS base score for each vulnerability. Red Hat scores reflect how a vulnerability affects our products specifically.

For more information, see https://access.redhat.com/solutions/762393.

My product is listed as "Under investigation" or "Affected", when will Red Hat release a fix for this vulnerability?
  • "Under investigation" doesn't necessarily mean that the product is affected by this vulnerability. It only means that our Analysis Team is still working on determining whether the product is affected and how it is affected.
  • "Affected" means that our Analysis Team has determined that this product is affected by this vulnerability and might release a fix to address this in the near future.

What can I do if my product is listed as "Will not fix"?

 A "will not fix" status means that a fix for an affected product version is not planned or not possible due to complexity, which may create additional risk.

Available options depend mostly on the Impact of the vulnerability and the current Life Cycle phase of your product. Overall, you have the following options:
  • Upgrade to a supported product version that includes a fix for this vulnerability (recommended).
  • Apply a mitigation (if one exists).
  • Open a This content is not included.support case to request a prioritization of releasing a fix for this vulnerability.

What can I do if my product is listed as "Fix deferred"?

 A deferred status means that a fix for an affected product version is not guaranteed due to higher-priority development work.

Available options depend mostly on the Impact of the vulnerability and the current Life Cycle phase of your product. Overall, you have the following options:
  • Apply a mitigation (if one exists).
  • Open a This content is not included.support case to request a prioritization of releasing a fix for this vulnerability.
  • Red Hat Engineering focuses on addressing high-priority issues based on their complexity or limited lifecycle support. Therefore, lower-priority issues will not receive immediate fixes.

What is a mitigation?

 A mitigation is an action that can be taken to reduce the impact of a security vulnerability, without deploying any fixes.

I have a Red Hat product but it is not in the above list, is it affected?

 The listed products were found to include one or more of the components that this vulnerability affects. These products underwent a thorough evaluation to determine their affectedness by this vulnerability. Note that layered products (such as container-based offerings) that consume affected components from any of the products listed in this table may be affected and are not represented.

Why is my security scanner reporting my product as vulnerable to this vulnerability even though my product version is fixed or not affected?

 In order to maintain code stability and compatibility, Red Hat usually does not rebase packages to entirely new versions. Instead, we backport fixes and new features to an older version of the package we distribute. This can result in some security scanners that only consider the package version to report the package as vulnerable. To avoid this, we suggest that you use an approved vulnerability scanner from our This content is not included.Red Hat Vulnerability Scanner Certification program.

My product is listed as "Out of Support Scope". What does this mean?

 When a product is listed as "Out of Support Scope", it means a vulnerability with the impact level assigned to this CVE is no longer covered by its current support lifecycle phase. The product has been identified to contain the impacted component, but analysis to determine whether it is affected or not by this vulnerability was not performed. The product should be assumed to be affected. Customers are advised to apply any mitigation options documented on this page, consider removing or disabling the impacted component, or upgrade to a supported version of the product that has an update available.