Missing Release of Resource after Effective Lifetime in Linux kernel - CVE-2026-68081

 

Missing Release of Resource after Effective Lifetime in Linux kernel - CVE-2026-68081

Published: August 13, 2026


Vulnerability identifier: #VU142244
CSH Severity: Low
CVSS v4: 6.8 [CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N]
CVE-ID: CVE-2026-68081
CWE-ID: CWE-772
Exploitation vector: Local access
Exploit availability: No public exploit available

Vulnerability details

The vulnerability allows a local user to cause a denial of service.

The vulnerability exists due to improper resource shutdown or release in the KVM nVMX nested VM-Enter handling in arch/x86/kvm/vmx/nested.c when emulating VMLAUNCH or VMRESUME with invalid guest state. A local user can repeatedly trigger failed nested VM-Enter operations to cause a denial of service.

The issue occurs when KVM synthesizes a nested VM-Exit on invalid guest state, allowing pinned vmcs12 pages or mappings to be leaked if the operation is retried.


Affected software

Linux kernel
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15
SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time 15
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15
SUSE Linux Enterprise Workstation Extension 15
Basesystem Module
Development Tools Module
Legacy Module
Public Cloud Module
SUSE Linux Enterprise Live Patching
kernel-livepatch-SLE15-SP7_Update_21-debugsource
kernel-livepatch-6_4_0-150700_53_81-default-debuginfo
kernel-livepatch-6_4_0-150700_53_81-default
kernel-default-livepatch
kernel-64kb-devel-debuginfo
kernel-64kb-debugsource
kernel-docs
kernel-syms
kernel-obs-build
kernel-obs-build-debugsource
kernel-source
reiserfs-kmp-default
reiserfs-kmp-default-debuginfo
kernel-64kb-devel
kernel-default-livepatch-devel
kernel-azure
kernel-azure-devel
kernel-azure-debugsource
kernel-azure-debuginfo
kernel-azure-devel-debuginfo
kernel-default-extra-debuginfo
kernel-default-extra
kernel-64kb-debuginfo
cluster-md-kmp-default
kernel-default-debuginfo
ocfs2-kmp-default-debuginfo
dlm-kmp-default-debuginfo
ocfs2-kmp-default
gfs2-kmp-default-debuginfo
dlm-kmp-default
cluster-md-kmp-default-debuginfo
kernel-default-debugsource
kernel-default
kernel-default-devel-debuginfo
kernel-default-devel
kernel-macros
kernel-devel
kernel-zfcpdump
kernel-zfcpdump-debugsource
kernel-zfcpdump-debuginfo
kernel-64kb
gfs2-kmp-default
kernel-default-base

How to mitigate CVE-2026-68081

Install security update from vendor's repository.

Linux kernel - update to 7.0 rc3
kernel-livepatch-SLE15-SP7_Update_21-debugsource - update to 1-150700.15.3.1
kernel-livepatch-6_4_0-150700_53_81-default-debuginfo - update to 1-150700.15.3.1
kernel-livepatch-6_4_0-150700_53_81-default - update to 1-150700.15.3.1
kernel-default-livepatch - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
kernel-64kb-devel-debuginfo - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
kernel-64kb-debugsource - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
kernel-docs - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
kernel-syms - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
kernel-obs-build - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
kernel-obs-build-debugsource - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
kernel-source - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
reiserfs-kmp-default - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
reiserfs-kmp-default-debuginfo - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
kernel-64kb-devel - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
kernel-default-livepatch-devel - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
kernel-azure - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
kernel-azure-devel - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
kernel-azure-debugsource - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
kernel-azure-debuginfo - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
kernel-azure-devel-debuginfo - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
kernel-default-extra-debuginfo - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
kernel-default-extra - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
kernel-64kb-debuginfo - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
cluster-md-kmp-default - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
kernel-default-debuginfo - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
ocfs2-kmp-default-debuginfo - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
dlm-kmp-default-debuginfo - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
ocfs2-kmp-default - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
gfs2-kmp-default-debuginfo - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
dlm-kmp-default - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
cluster-md-kmp-default-debuginfo - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
kernel-default-debugsource - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
kernel-default - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
kernel-default-devel-debuginfo - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
kernel-default-devel - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
kernel-macros - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
kernel-devel - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
kernel-zfcpdump - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
kernel-zfcpdump-debugsource - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
kernel-zfcpdump-debuginfo - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
kernel-64kb - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
gfs2-kmp-default - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1
kernel-default-base - update to 6.4.0-150700.53.81.1.150700.17.45.1

External References

Related Security Bulletins