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Advisory severityLowRed Hat Linux

Low [CVE-2026-52959] Do not use host-controlled page order in cleanup path

This low-severity Red Hat Linux advisory covers CVE-2026-52959.

Aggregated and source-linked by VulniPulse. Data sources, validation and limitations.

CVE-2026-52959 Source published Source updated

VulniPulse record published Record updated

CVE-2026-52959
Affected products & platforms
Red Hat LinuxUnclassified
Open source advisory

Summary

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: virt: sev-guest: Do not use host-controlled page order in cleanup path When issuing an extended guest request (SVM_VMGEXIT_EXT_GUEST_REQUEST), get_ext_report() allocates a buffer to retrieve a certificate blob from the host, keeping track of its size in report_req->certs_len.

However, the host may return SNP_GUEST_VMM_ERR_INVALID_LEN, indicating an invalid buffer size, as well as the expected length of such buffer. get_ext_report() subsequently updates report_req->certs_len with the host-controlled value, and cleans up the buffer by computing a page order from such value.

This is incorrect, as the host-provided length may not match the page order of the original allocation, potentially resulting in corruption in the page allocator. Fix this by using alloc_pages_exact() instead, and reusing @npages to compute the size passed to free_pages_exact().

For consistency, also use @npages to compute the size when allocating the pages, even though this last change has no functional effect. A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's Secure Encrypted Virtualization (SEV) guest module.

This incorrect handling of host-controlled page order during the cleanup process can lead to a mismatch between the allocated and freed buffer sizes, potentially resulting in corruption within the page allocator.

Is CVE-2026-52959 exploited?

No exploitation is reported in the sources VulniPulse tracks: CVE-2026-52959 is not in the CISA KEV catalog (checked ) and this advisory does not report exploitation. That is not proof the vulnerability cannot be exploited.

How do I fix CVE-2026-52959?

The advisory VulniPulse tracks names no fixed release. Follow Red Hat's guidance for workarounds and updates.

Confirm against the vendor advisory before you patch.

Affected versions

No affected-version range was extracted from the source record. The vendor advisory is authoritative. Check it before change work.

Official advisory · medium-confidence parse· fetched 15 days ago·verify at source

Fixed versions

No fixed release is recorded yet. That does not prove no patch exists. Confirm against the vendor advisory.

Official advisory · medium-confidence parse· fetched 15 days ago·verify at source

Mitigation

The source record does not include mitigation steps. That does not mean no fix exists. Read the vendor advisory below for the authoritative guidance.

Official advisory · medium-confidence parse· fetched 15 days ago·verify at source

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