CVE-2026-98719

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

KVM: SEV: Nullify have run CPUs mask pointer when freeing it

Nullify have_run_cpus when freeing the mask, particularly in the error path of __sev_guest_init(), so that KVM doesnt have to subtly use sev->active to track whether or not the mask has been freed. As pointed out by Sashiko, blindly freeing the mask in sev_vm_destroy() results in a double-free if the mask is freed if __sev_guest_init() fails.

Throw the logic in a helper as nullifying the pointer is frustratingly difficult and weird due to have_run_cpus being a single-entry array when CPUMASK_OFFSTACK=n. Deliberately dont use CPUMASK_VAR_NULL, as its not directly assignable when the cpumask is on-stack, e.g. requires using a local variable and a memcpy(), which is beyond ridiculous. Furthermore, while clearing the on-stack bitmask is an unnecessary and arguably unwanted side effect, KVM absolutely relies on 0 being the null value given that the struct is zero-allocated.

Opportunistically add an alloc() helper to pair with free(); there are just enough call sites to make doing so worthwhile.

Affected Software

References

• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0fbc7fec2242de6c3dcea6de55573c428e820173
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8abbc76120a74bfba1851bd97528099d715e45c6
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b1de3ebf59507e0edacaa5cfa2225bc1869e1b63