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CVE-2026-98878

Linux: irqchip/gic-v5: Immediately exec priority drop following activate

Linux LinuxOperating systems
CVSS
NoneNot scored
ExploitationNo known exploitationNot in CISA KEV, which does not prove it is unexploitedCISA KEV
Exploit odds (EPSS)No scoreNo FIRST EPSS score in this snapshot yet
Fixed in6.18.53Fixed versionCVE List
Published23 Oct 2026Updated 23 Oct 2026CVE List

What fixes it

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:

irqchip/gic-v5: Immediately exec priority drop following activate

With GICv5 an interrupt of equal or lower priority cannot be signalled until there has been a priority drop. This is done via the GIC CDEOI system instruction. Once this has been executed, the hardware is able to signal the next interrupt if there is one.

As all interrupts are programmed to have the same priority, no new interrupts can be signalled until the priority drop has happened. This can cause issues when, for example, an interrupt remains active while a long running process takes place, such as when injecting a physical interrupt into a guest VM in software.

The GICv5 driver has so far done the priority drop as part of irq_eoi(), i.e., at the same time as deactivating the interrupt. This means that any long running process (or VM) could block incoming interrupts, effectively causing a denial of service for all other interrupts.

Rather than doing the EOI as part of irq_eoi() (which the name would suggest would be a good place for it), move it to happen immediately after acknowledging an interrupt in the main GICv5 interrupt handler. The deactivation of interrupts (GIC CDDI) remains implemented as part of irq_eoi(), which means that the same interrupt cannot be signalled a second time until deactivated by software.

Text from CVE List

Affected versions 5

  • Linuxaffected: 1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 before c29bb5acd0cad0b49399d1399dd1bacb39e41438CVE List
  • Linuxaffected: 1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 before abf60331ebe9a9a7937a72aac7699c2907ab9307CVE List
  • Linuxaffected: all versions before 6.18.53CVE List
  • Linuxunaffected: 6.18.53 through 6.18.*CVE List
  • Linuxunaffected: 7.2CVE List

References 2