CVE-2026-98473
NoneCVSS
—
EPSS
0.2%
Published
Oct 18, 2026
CISA due date
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Cloudanix analysis
A bug in the Linux kernel on IBM Z systems can leak memory and interrupt resources when certain hardware queues are removed, potentially causing virtual machines to become unstable.
- Exploitation
- Local Privilege
- Attacker needs
- Low Privilege
- Complexity
- Moderate
- Impact
- Denial Of Service
- Component
- OS kernel
- Class
- Memory Corruption
- Remediation
- Upgrade
- Effort
- Medium
- Patch risk
- Low
What it actually does
Mishandling of AP_RESPONSE_Q_NOT_AVAIL in vfio_ap_mdev_reset_queue and apq_status_check, combined with improper NULL checks on kvm in vfio_ap_free_aqic_resources, causes leaks of KVM GISC registrations and pinned NIB guest pages plus potential double-free of saved_isc when queues are removed from host AP configuration.
Why it matters to the business
Resource exhaustion and instability in s390 virtualized environments can lead to guest VM crashes or degraded host performance when AP queues are dynamically removed while assigned to mediated devices.
How an attack unfolds
An attacker with local access triggers repeated addition and removal of AP queues from the host configuration while they remain assigned to a vfio-ap mediated device; unhandled response codes and KVM NULL paths leak GISC and page resources until exhaustion occurs.
How to fix it
Apply the upstream kernel patch resolving the three response-code and NULL-handling issues in drivers/s390/crypto/vfio_ap_ops.c; rebuild and reboot onto a kernel containing the fix.
How to confirm the fix worked
Verify the patched kernel source contains the added AP_RESPONSE_Q_NOT_AVAIL cases and unconditional saved_isc reset; confirm no WARN_ON triggers occur during queue removal in test scenarios with kvm unset.
Typical attack path
- Obtain local access on s390 Linux host running vulnerable vfio-ap driver
- Assign AP queues to a mediated device used by a KVM guest
- Remove adapter or domain from host AP configuration to invoke remove_queue path
- Repeat removal and reset operations to accumulate leaked GISC registrations and pinned pages
- Trigger exhaustion leading to guest or host instability
How to detect it
Search kernel logs for repeated vfio_ap_mdev_reset_queue warnings, AP_RESPONSE_Q_NOT_AVAIL entries, and kvm_s390_gisc_unregister calls; inspect for growing pinned-page counts associated with vfio-ap mdevs.
What your security team should do
- Prioritize patching s390 hosts using vfio-ap within the next maintenance window
- Monitor kernel logs for AP_RESPONSE_Q_NOT_AVAIL and WARN_ON messages related to vfio_ap
- Limit dynamic AP configuration changes on production systems until patched
The record
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: s390/vfio-ap: fix KVM GISC and page leak when queue removed from host config Three related problems exist in the handling of KVM interrupt and page resources when a queue is removed from the host's AP configuration while assigned to a mediated device (mdev). Problem 1: ~~~~~~~~~ AP_RESPONSE_Q_NOT_AVAIL not handled in vfio_ap_mdev_reset_queue() When the AP bus removes a queue device whose adapter or domain has been removed from the host's AP configuration, vfio_ap_mdev_remove_queue() is called. If the queue is still in the host's AP configuration at that point, it calls vfio_ap_mdev_reset_queue(), which issues a PQAP(ZAPQ). Since the adapter is already gone from the host configuration, ap_zapq() returns AP_RESPONSE_Q_NOT_AVAIL (0x01). This response code is not handled in vfio_ap_mdev_reset_queue()'s switch statement and falls through to the default case, which issues a WARN but does not call vfio_ap_free_aqic_resources(). As a result, if IRQ handling was enabled for the queue by the guest, the KVM GISC registration and the pinned guest page holding the notification indicator byte (NIB) are both leaked. This is fixed by adding AP_RESPONSE_Q_NOT_AVAIL to the same case as AP_RESPONSE_DECONFIGURED and AP_RESPONSE_CHECKSTOPPED in vfio_ap_mdev_reset_queue(). Like those response codes, Q_NOT_AVAIL indicates the queue is not operational and no further reset attempts are possible; the correct action is to free the IRQ resources immediately. Problem 2: ~~~~~~~~~ AP_RESPONSE_Q_NOT_AVAIL not handled in apq_status_check() In vfio_ap_mdev_reset_queue(), there are four cases that indicate a queue reset has not yet completed, in which case apq_reset_check() is queued to a work queue to verify completion of the reset operation. This function uses the PQAP(TAPQ) function to get the queue's status and calls apq_status_check() to verify whether the reset has completed, failed or needs to be executed again. As described in Problem #1 above, apq_reset_check() does not specifically check for AP_RESPONSE_Q_NOT_AVAIL, thereby potentially leaking KVM GISC registration and the pinned guest page holding the NIB. This is fixed by adding a case statement for AP_RESPONSE_Q_NOT_AVAIL to apq_status_check() and returning -ENODEV for that case. The caller, apq_reset_check() will then check for this return code and call vfio_ap_free_aqic_resources() to prevent the leak. Problem 3: ~~~~~~~~~ vfio_ap_free_aqic_resources() leaks saved_isc when kvm is NULL vfio_ap_free_aqic_resources() guards the call to kvm_s390_gisc_unregister() with: if (q->saved_isc != VFIO_AP_ISC_INVALID && !WARN_ON(!(q->matrix_mdev && q->matrix_mdev->kvm))) If matrix_mdev->kvm is NULL -- which can happen when vfio_ap_mdev_unset_kvm() has already run and cleared kvm before a subsequent cleanup path reaches this function -- the WARN_ON fires and the entire block is skipped. This leaves q->saved_isc set to a non-invalid value, creating a potential double-free on any subsequent call to this function. When kvm is NULL the KVM guest is already torn down, so kvm_s390_gisc_unregister() need not and cannot be called; however, q->saved_isc must always be cleared. Fix this by separating the kvm_s390_gisc_unregister() call from the q->saved_isc reset. The WARN_ON now guards only the genuinely impossible case of matrix_mdev being NULL. A NULL kvm is handled gracefully by skipping only the unregister call, and q->saved_isc = VFIO_AP_ISC_INVALID is set unconditionally whenever saved_isc was not already invalid. Additionally, add an else clause to the host-config check in vfio_ap_mdev_remove_queue() to call vfio_ap_free_aqic_resources() directly when the queue is not in the host's AP configuration. This serves as a backstop: when the AP bus fires the driver .remove callback after an adapter is removed from the host config, the queue is by definition no longer addressable, so vfio_ap_mdev_reset_queue ---truncated---
Affected packages
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