KVM: arm64: Correctly cap ZCR_EL2 provided by a guest hypervisor

Summary

CVECVE-2026-63941
StatePUBLISHED
AssignerLinux
Source PriorityCVE Program / NVD first with legacy fallback
Published2026-07-19 16:17:12 UTC
Updated2026-07-20 15:16:57 UTC
DescriptionIn the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: KVM: arm64: Correctly cap ZCR_EL2 provided by a guest hypervisor ZCR_EL2 can be updated by a VHE guest hypervisor either using ZCR_EL2 (which traps) or ZCR_EL1 (which does not trap). KVM handles both in different way: - on ZCR_EL2 trap, ZCR_EL2.LEN is immediately capped at the VM's own VL limit. This has the potential to break existing SW that relies on the full LEN field to be stateful. - on ZCR_EL1 access, we do absolutely nothing. On restoring the SVE context for an L2 guest, we directly restore the guest hypervisor's view of ZCR_EL2 into the physical ZCR_EL2. If the guest's view of the register was updated using the ZCR_EL2 accessor, the value has already been sanitised (with the caveat mentioned above). But if the guest used ZCR_EL1, the raw value is written into the HW, and the L2 guest can now access VLs that it shouldn't. Fix all the above by moving the VL capping to the restore points, ensuring that: - the HW is always programmed with a capped value, irrespective of the accessor being used, - the ZCR_EL2.LEN field is always completely stateful, irrespective of the accessor being used. Additionally, move ZCR_EL2 to be a sanitised register, ensuring that only the LEN field is actually stateful. This requires some creative construction of the RES0 mask, as the sysreg generation script does not yet generate RAZ/WI fields. [maz: rewrote commit message, tidy up access_zcr_el2()]

Risk And Classification

Primary CVSS: v3.1 8.8 HIGH from 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

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


VersionSourceTypeScoreSeverityVector
3.1416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67Secondary8.8HIGHCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
3.1CNADECLARED8.8HIGHCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

CVSS v3.1 Breakdown

Attack Vector
Local
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
Low
User Interaction
None
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

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

Vendor Declared Affected Products

SourceVendorProductVersionPlatforms
CNA Linux Linux affected b3d29a8230998b36afecf494b199211d26052785 742a9b5ccd8c46caf983ca90c94f855466968e34 git Not specified
CNA Linux Linux affected b3d29a8230998b36afecf494b199211d26052785 83726330748981372bde86ed5411d7b306612991 git Not specified
CNA Linux Linux affected 6.11 Not specified
CNA Linux Linux unaffected 6.11 semver Not specified
CNA Linux Linux unaffected 7.0.12 7.0.* semver Not specified
CNA Linux Linux unaffected 7.1 * original_commit_for_fix Not specified

References

ReferenceSourceLinkTags
git.kernel.org/stable/c/83726330748981372bde86ed5411d7b306612991 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 git.kernel.org
git.kernel.org/stable/c/742a9b5ccd8c46caf983ca90c94f855466968e34 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 git.kernel.org
CVE Program record CVE.ORG www.cve.org canonical
NVD vulnerability detail NVD nvd.nist.gov canonical, analysis

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