CVE-2026-98546 PUBLISHED

arm64/boot: Disable trapping of PMZR_EL0 writes to EL2

Assigner: Linux
Reserved: 25.09.2026 Published: 18.10.2026 Updated: 18.10.2026

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

arm64/boot: Disable trapping of PMZR_EL0 writes to EL2

__init_el2_fgt2() writes one mask to both HDFGRTR2_EL2 and HDFGWTR2_EL2. PMZR_EL0 is write-only, so its trap bit, nPMZR_EL0, exists only in HDFGWTR2_EL2 and is therefore never set: a PMZR_EL0 write from the host traps to EL2, where the nVHE hypervisor has no handler and BUG()s. The kernel never writes PMZR_EL0, but kernel.perf_user_access=1 has the PMU driver set PMUSERENR_EL0.UEN for a task with a user-read event, so a write from EL0 reaches the trap and takes the host down without a panic message.

Accumulate the HDFGWTR2_EL2 bits separately, as __init_el2_fgt() already does for HDFGWTR_EL2, and set nPMZR_EL0 with the other FEAT_PMUv3p9 bits.

Product Status

Vendor Linux
Product Linux
Versions Default: unaffected
  • affected from 686d8f7b592f3466f44aea653c8147611b351c83 to bb8c90c86441c090e9036f019cf1b4d7894a2c40 (excl.)
  • affected from 858c7bfcb35e1100b58bb63c9f562d86e09418d9 to 071f51188a5d8ec10535541255587976d12fc7d8 (excl.)
  • affected from 858c7bfcb35e1100b58bb63c9f562d86e09418d9 to ce71865bf43f88bed9d9218e9218e537150be506 (excl.)
  • affected from 858c7bfcb35e1100b58bb63c9f562d86e09418d9 to 2bc6b218717b9d08f466f88209251d54bc09b207 (excl.)
  • Version 882f78400322c0aec4b641a7168adad9a66bc0c2 is affected
  • affected from 6.12.25 to 6.12.112 (excl.)
  • affected from 6.14.4 to 6.15 (excl.)
Vendor Linux
Product Linux
Versions Default: affected
  • Version 6.15 is affected
  • unaffected from 0 to 6.15 (excl.)
  • unaffected from 6.12.112 to 6.12.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 6.18.55 to 6.18.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 7.2.9 to 7.2.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 7.3-rc5 to * (incl.)

References