CVE-2026-98546

arm64/boot: Disable trapping of PMZR_EL0 writes to EL2

CVE-2026-98546 is fixed in 2 products on 1 platform, first by DEBIAN-CVE-2026-98546, released October 19, 2026. It is not reported as exploited. Patch Radar priority: Routine.

Routine
CVSS
n/a
No vendor severity
Exploitation
None reported
No vendor assessment
CISA KEV
Not listed
Not in the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog
EPSS
0.0020
9th percentile

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: arm64/boot: Disable trapping of PMZR_EL0 writes to EL2 __init_el2_fgt2() writes one mask to both HDFGRTR2_EL2 and HDFGWTR2_EL2. PMZR_EL0 is write-only, so its trap bit, nPMZR_EL0, exists only in HDFGWTR2_EL2 and is therefore never set: a PMZR_EL0 write from the host traps to EL2, where the nVHE hypervisor has no handler and BUG()s. The kernel never writes PMZR_EL0, but kernel.perf_user_access=1 has the PMU driver set PMUSERENR_EL0.UEN for a task with a user-read event, so a write from EL0 reaches the trap and takes the host down without a panic message. Accumulate the HDFGWTR2_EL2 bits separately, as __init_el2_fgt() already does for HDFGWTR_EL2, and set nPMZR_EL0 with the other FEAT_PMUv3p9 bits.

Where it's fixed

ProductFixed inFixReleased
Linux
linux · Debian 13.5 (trixie) 6.12.113-1 DEBIAN-CVE-2026-98546 Oct 19, 2026
linux · Debian 14 7.2.9-1 DEBIAN-CVE-2026-98546 Oct 19, 2026
linux-6.12 · Debian 12.15 (bookworm) 6.12.113-1~deb12u1 DEBIAN-CVE-2026-98546 Oct 19, 2026

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