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CVE-2026-98395

Linux: powerpc/entry: Fix irq_soft_mask corruption on replayed interrupt exit

Linux LinuxOperating systems
CVSS
NoneNot scored
ExploitationNo known exploitationNot in CISA KEV, which does not prove it is unexploitedCISA KEV
Exploit odds (EPSS)0.20%Chance of exploitation activity in the next 30 days, higher than 9% of CVEs. Scored 23 Oct 2026FIRST EPSS
Fixed in95cd316a896f1c1aa4ee4a817ba3d4691103c81bAlso 63a7531ca31f9f097d9cc1cc3fe86ae683cdabddCVE List
Published14 Oct 2026Updated 19 Oct 2026CVE List

What fixes it

  • 95cd316a896f1c1aa4ee4a817ba3d4691103c81bLinuxCVE List
  • 63a7531ca31f9f097d9cc1cc3fe86ae683cdabddLinuxCVE List

A fixed version on one release line is not the upgrade target for every line. Check your exact version and any vendor backports.

Description

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

powerpc/entry: Fix irq_soft_mask corruption on replayed interrupt exit

When __replay_soft_interrupts() replays a pending interrupt (e.g. PACA_IRQ_DEC -> timer_interrupt), it calls the handler directly with a synthetic pt_regs. The DEFINE_INTERRUPT_HANDLER_ASYNC wrapper around each handler calls arch_interrupt_async_exit_prepare() on the way out, which calls arch_interrupt_exit_prepare() -> local_irq_disable() -> arch_local_irq_disable(), which does:

irq_soft_mask_set(IRQS_DISABLED) /* 0x1 */

This unconditionally overwrites irq_soft_mask with IRQS_DISABLED (0x1), stripping the IRQS_PMI_DISABLED (0x2) bit. The result is that irq_soft_mask is 0x1 instead of IRQS_ALL_DISABLED (0x3) when the handler returns to __replay_soft_interrupts().

For a normally-taken interrupt this is harmless: the next interrupt always enters through arch_interrupt_enter_prepare() which unconditionally sets irq_soft_mask to IRQS_ALL_DISABLED. But during replay, next_interrupt() is called directly between replayed handlers without going back through arch_interrupt_enter_prepare(), so the stripped bit is never restored. next_interrupt() then fires a WARNING:

WARNING: arch/powerpc/kernel/irq_64.c:75 WARN_ON(irq_soft_mask_return() != IRQS_ALL_DISABLED)

The warning was observed early in boot on a POWER10 pseries guest during kmem_cache_init_late(), where a spinlock release triggers interrupt replay that processes a pending timer interrupt.

Debugger state confirming the bug: Before timer_interrupt(&regs): irq_soft_mask = 0x3 (IRQS_ALL_DISABLED) correct irq_happened = 0x41 (HARD_DIS|REPLAYING) correct After timer_interrupt(&regs) returns: irq_soft_mask = 0x1 (IRQS_DISABLED) WRONG - PMI bit stripped irq_happened = 0x41 unchanged

The fix is to replace local_irq_disable() with hard_irq_disable().

hard_irq_disable() is the right primitive here for two reasons:

  1. On PPC64 (hw_irq.h:301) it calls irq_soft_mask_set_return(IRQS_ALL_DISABLED),

setting the soft mask to 0x3 (both IRQS_DISABLED and IRQS_PMI_DISABLED), which preserves the PMI bit and fixes the WARNING. The additional work it does (__hard_irq_disable(), PACA_IRQ_HARD_DIS |=) is redundant but safe since both are already set at this point in the exit path; the trace_hardirqs_off() inside is guarded by if (!arch_irqs_disabled_flags(flags)) so it will not double-fire.

  1. On PPC32 (hw_irq.h:467) hard_irq_disable() maps to

arch_local_irq_disable() -> __hard_irq_disable(), which clears MSR[EE] in hardware. This is exactly correct: PPC32 has no soft-mask PACA mechanism, so the hardware disable is the right way to satisfy irqentry_exit()'s requirement. This also fixes a build error on PPC32 where irq_soft_mask_set() is only defined under CONFIG_PPC64:

arch/powerpc/include/asm/entry-common.h:273: error: implicit declaration of function 'irq_soft_mask_set'

Using hard_irq_disable() requires no #ifdef and is consistent with how the rest of the entry code (e.g. entry-common.h:463) handles the same PPC32/PPC64 split.

Text from CVE List

Affected versions 6

  • Linuxaffected: 334f3f6d7a1660fd65597bad9960bfa33a716d35 before 95cd316a896f1c1aa4ee4a817ba3d4691103c81bCVE List
  • Linuxaffected: 334f3f6d7a1660fd65597bad9960bfa33a716d35 before 63a7531ca31f9f097d9cc1cc3fe86ae683cdabddCVE List
  • Linuxaffected: 7.2CVE List
  • Linuxunaffected: all versions before 7.2CVE List
  • Linuxunaffected: 7.2.7 through 7.2.*CVE List
  • Linuxunaffected: 7.3CVE List

References 2