CVE-2026-98841

virt: vmgenid: set driver_data before registering notification handlers

CVE-2026-98841 is fixed in 39 products on 1 platform, first by DEBIAN-CVE-2026-98841, released October 19, 2026. It is not reported as exploited. Patch Radar priority: High.

High
CVSS
n/a
important
Exploitation
None reported
No vendor assessment
CISA KEV
Not listed
Not in the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog
EPSS
0.0017
6th percentile

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: virt: vmgenid: set driver_data before registering notification handlers Both probe paths register their notification handler before assigning driver_data, which the handler dereferences. In the devicetree path, the notification IRQ can fire as soon as devm_request_irq() registers the handler: the interrupt may already be pending at probe time, for example when a VMM injects the generation-changed notification while restoring a guest from a snapshot that was taken before the driver had probed (Firecracker does exactly this on snapshot restore). The IRQ is also requested with IRQF_SHARED, so another device sharing the line can trigger the handler just as early. The handler then calls vmgenid_notify(), which dereferences the still-NULL driver_data and panics: Unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at virtual address 0000000000000010 CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 1 Comm: swapper/0 Not tainted 6.18.38+ #1 PREEMPT(none) Hardware name: linux,dummy-virt (DT) pc : vmgenid_notify.isra.0+0x24/0x8c lr : vmgenid_of_irq_handler+0x14/0x34 Call trace: vmgenid_notify.isra.0+0x24/0x8c (P) vmgenid_of_irq_handler+0x14/0x34 __handle_irq_event_percpu+0x44/0x1bc handle_irq_event+0x4c/0xb4 handle_fasteoi_irq+0xf8/0x1f8 The ACPI path has the same ordering problem: the handler is installed with acpi_install_notify_handler() before driver_data is assigned. ACPI notifications are dispatched asynchronously from a workqueue, so the window is narrow, but a notification arriving between the two calls hits the same NULL dereference. Assign driver_data before registering the handlers. The state is fully initialized at that point, so the handlers are safe to run. Should registration fail, the probe error path leaves no dangling pointer behind: the driver core clears driver_data in device_unbind_cleanup().

Where it's fixed

ProductFixed inFixReleased
Linux
bpftool6.12 · amzn 2023 1:6.12.113-138.209.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3335 Nov 7, 2026
bpftool6.12-debuginfo · amzn 2023 1:6.12.113-138.209.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3335 Nov 7, 2026
bpftool6.18 · amzn 2023 1:6.18.56-125.164.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3251 Nov 7, 2026
bpftool6.18-debuginfo · amzn 2023 1:6.18.56-125.164.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3251 Nov 7, 2026
kernel-livepatch-6.12.113-138.209 · amzn 2023 1:1.0-0.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3335 Nov 7, 2026
kernel-livepatch-6.18.56-125.164 · amzn 2023 1:1.0-0.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3251 Nov 7, 2026
kernel6.12 · amzn 2023 1:6.12.113-138.209.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3335 Nov 7, 2026
kernel6.12-debuginfo · amzn 2023 1:6.12.113-138.209.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3335 Nov 7, 2026
kernel6.12-debuginfo-common-aarch64 · amzn 2023 1:6.12.113-138.209.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3335 Nov 7, 2026
kernel6.12-debuginfo-common-x86_64 · amzn 2023 1:6.12.113-138.209.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3335 Nov 7, 2026
kernel6.12-devel · amzn 2023 1:6.12.113-138.209.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3335 Nov 7, 2026
kernel6.12-headers · amzn 2023 1:6.12.113-138.209.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3335 Nov 7, 2026
kernel6.12-modules-extra · amzn 2023 1:6.12.113-138.209.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3335 Nov 7, 2026
kernel6.12-modules-extra-common · amzn 2023 1:6.12.113-138.209.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3335 Nov 7, 2026
kernel6.12-tools · amzn 2023 1:6.12.113-138.209.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3335 Nov 7, 2026
kernel6.12-tools-debuginfo · amzn 2023 1:6.12.113-138.209.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3335 Nov 7, 2026
kernel6.12-tools-devel · amzn 2023 1:6.12.113-138.209.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3335 Nov 7, 2026
kernel6.18 · amzn 2023 1:6.18.56-125.164.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3251 Nov 7, 2026
kernel6.18-debuginfo · amzn 2023 1:6.18.56-125.164.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3251 Nov 7, 2026
kernel6.18-debuginfo-common-aarch64 · amzn 2023 1:6.18.56-125.164.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3251 Nov 7, 2026
kernel6.18-debuginfo-common-x86_64 · amzn 2023 1:6.18.56-125.164.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3251 Nov 7, 2026
kernel6.18-devel · amzn 2023 1:6.18.56-125.164.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3251 Nov 7, 2026
kernel6.18-headers · amzn 2023 1:6.18.56-125.164.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3251 Nov 7, 2026
kernel6.18-modules-extra · amzn 2023 1:6.18.56-125.164.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3251 Nov 7, 2026
kernel6.18-modules-extra-common · amzn 2023 1:6.18.56-125.164.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3251 Nov 7, 2026
kernel6.18-tools · amzn 2023 1:6.18.56-125.164.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3251 Nov 7, 2026
kernel6.18-tools-debuginfo · amzn 2023 1:6.18.56-125.164.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3251 Nov 7, 2026
kernel6.18-tools-devel · amzn 2023 1:6.18.56-125.164.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3251 Nov 7, 2026
linux · Debian 13.5 (trixie) 6.12.113-1 DEBIAN-CVE-2026-98841 Oct 19, 2026
linux · Debian 14 7.2.10-1 DEBIAN-CVE-2026-98841 Oct 19, 2026
linux-6.12 · Debian 12.15 (bookworm) 6.12.113-1~deb12u1 DEBIAN-CVE-2026-98841 Oct 19, 2026
microvm-kernel6.18 · amzn 2023 1:6.18.56-125.164.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3251 Nov 7, 2026
perf6.12 · amzn 2023 1:6.12.113-138.209.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3335 Nov 7, 2026
perf6.12-debuginfo · amzn 2023 1:6.12.113-138.209.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3335 Nov 7, 2026
perf6.18 · amzn 2023 1:6.18.56-125.164.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3251 Nov 7, 2026
perf6.18-debuginfo · amzn 2023 1:6.18.56-125.164.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3251 Nov 7, 2026
python3-perf6.12 · amzn 2023 1:6.12.113-138.209.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3335 Nov 7, 2026
python3-perf6.12-debuginfo · amzn 2023 1:6.12.113-138.209.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3335 Nov 7, 2026
python3-perf6.18 · amzn 2023 1:6.18.56-125.164.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3251 Nov 7, 2026
python3-perf6.18-debuginfo · amzn 2023 1:6.18.56-125.164.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3251 Nov 7, 2026

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