CVE-2026-23215: x86/vmware: Fix hypercall clobbers

Published Feb 18, 2026
·
Updated

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

x86/vmware: Fix hypercall clobbers

Fedora QA reported the following panic:

BUG: unable to handle page fault for address: 0000000040003e54 #PF: supervisor write access in kernel mode #PF: errorcode(0x0002) - not-present page Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS edk2-20251119-3.fc43 11/19/2025 RIP: 0010:vmwarehypercall4.constprop.0+0x52/0x90 .. Call Trace: vmmousereportevents+0x13e/0x1b0 psmousehandlebyte+0x15/0x60 ps2interrupt+0x8a/0xd0 ...

because the QEMU VMware mouse emulation is buggy, and clears the top 32 bits of %rdi that the kernel kept a pointer in.

The QEMU vmmouse driver saves and restores the register state in a "uint32t data[6];" and as a result restores the state with the high bits all cleared.

RDI originally contained the value of a valid kernel stack address (0xff5eeb3240003e54). After the vmware hypercall it now contains 0x40003e54, and we get a page fault as a result when it is dereferenced.

The proper fix would be in QEMU, but this works around the issue in the kernel to keep old setups working, when old kernels had not happened to keep any state in %rdi over the hypercall.

In theory this same issue exists for all the hypercalls in the vmmouse driver; in practice it has only been seen with vmwarehypercall3() and vmwarehypercall4(). For now, just mark RDI/RSI as clobbered for those two calls. This should have a minimal effect on code generation overall as it should be rare for the compiler to want to make RDI/RSI live across hypercalls.

Affected Software

11 affected components
linux/kernel
Linux Linux kernel>=6.11<6.12.70
Linux Linux kernel>=6.13<6.18.10
Linux Linux kernel=6.19-rc1
Linux Linux kernel=6.19-rc2
Linux Linux kernel=6.19-rc3
Linux Linux kernel=6.19-rc4
Linux Linux kernel=6.19-rc5
Linux Linux kernel=6.19-rc6
Linux Linux kernel=6.19-rc7
Linux Linux kernel=6.19-rc8

Event History

Feb 18, 2026
CVE Published
via MITRE·02:21 PM
Data Sourced
via MITRE·02:21 PM
Description
Data Sourced
via NVD·03:18 PM
RemedyDescriptionSeverityAffected Software
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Frequently Asked Questions

1

What is the severity of CVE-2026-23215?

CVE-2026-23215 has been classified as a critical vulnerability due to its potential to cause kernel panics and disrupt system operations.

2

How do I fix CVE-2026-23215?

To fix CVE-2026-23215, update your Linux kernel to the latest stable version that addresses this vulnerability.

3

What systems are affected by CVE-2026-23215?

CVE-2026-23215 affects Linux kernel versions using VMware hypercalls on x86 architecture.

4

What kind of vulnerability is CVE-2026-23215?

CVE-2026-23215 is a hypercall vulnerability in the Linux kernel that can lead to a system crash.

5

Is there a workaround for CVE-2026-23215?

There are currently no known workarounds for CVE-2026-23215, and users are advised to apply the kernel update.

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