Expired pointer dereference in Linux kernel - CVE-2026-98863

Vulnerability identifier: #VU157232

CSH Severity: Low

CVSS v4: 7.3 [CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N]

CVE-ID: CVE-2026-98863

CWE-ID: CWE-825

Exploitation vector: Local access

Exploit availability: No public exploit available

The vulnerability allows a local user to access memory through stale mappings, potentially disclosing or corrupting memory.

The vulnerability exists due to reuse of stale page frame numbers in the Linux kernel's x86 KVM nested virtualization code when resuming a virtual CPU after nested-state page retrieval fails. A local user can re-run a virtual CPU whose vmcs02 retains page frame numbers from a previous L2 run to cause L2 to execute with stale, unpinned memory mappings, potentially disclosing or corrupting memory.

Linux kernel
SUSE Linux Micro
SUSE Linux Micro Extras
kernel-default
kernel-64kb
kernel-64kb-debugsource
kernel-64kb-devel
kernel-default-devel
kernel-syms
kernel-obs-build
kernel-obs-build-debugsource
kernel-default-debugsource
kernel-default-devel-debuginfo

Install security update from vendor's repository.

Linux kernel - update to 7.0 rc3
kernel-default - update to 6.4.0-159998.55.1
kernel-64kb - update to 6.4.0-159998.55.1
kernel-64kb-debugsource - update to 6.4.0-159998.55.1
kernel-64kb-devel - update to 6.4.0-159998.55.1
kernel-default-devel - update to 6.4.0-159998.55.1
kernel-syms - update to 6.4.0-159998.55.1
kernel-obs-build - update to 6.4.0-159998.55.1
kernel-obs-build-debugsource - update to 6.4.0-159998.55.1
kernel-default-debugsource - update to 6.4.0-159998.55.1
kernel-default-devel-debuginfo - update to 6.4.0-159998.55.1

• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/10180a277549339020b08000206092c07e0bff5a
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/525694a6021ec6c8f7ce1f38acdf2dd77698fec1
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/942192dbcd3a06695ef6b31cf10a41a21cf014d8

• Expired pointer dereference in Linux kernel x86 kvm
• SUSE update for the Linux Kernel