CVE-2026-64457
virtio_pci: fix vq info pointer lookup via wrong index
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: virtio_pci: fix vq info pointer lookup via wrong index Unbinding a virtio balloon device: echo virtio0 > /sys/bus/virtio/drivers/virtio_balloon/unbind triggers a NULL pointer dereference. The dmesg says: BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000008 [...] RIP: 0010:__list_del_entry_valid_or_report+0x5/0xf0 Call Trace: <TASK> vp_del_vqs+0x121/0x230 remove_common+0x135/0x150 virtballoon_remove+0xee/0x100 virtio_dev_remove+0x3b/0x80 device_release_driver_internal+0x187/0x2c0 unbind_store+0xb9/0xe0 kernfs_fop_write_iter.llvm.11660790530567441834+0xf6/0x180 vfs_write+0x2a9/0x3b0 ksys_write+0x5c/0xd0 do_syscall_64+0x54/0x230 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x29/0x31 [...] </TASK> The virtio_balloon device registers 5 queues (inflate, deflate, stats, free_page, reporting) but only the first two are unconditional. The stats, free_page and reporting queues are each conditional on their respective feature bits. When any of these features are absent, the corresponding vqs_info entry has name == NULL, creating holes in the array. The root cause is an indexing mismatch introduced when vq info storage was changed to be passed as an argument. vp_find_vqs_msix() and vp_find_vqs_intx() store the info pointer at vp_dev->vqs[i], where 'i' is the caller's sparse array index. However, the virtqueue itself gets vq->index assigned from queue_idx, a dense index that skips NULL entries. When holes exist, 'i' and queue_idx diverge. Later, vp_del_vqs() looks up info via vp_dev->vqs[vq->index] using the dense index into the sparsely-populated array, and hits NULL. Fix this by storing info at vp_dev->vqs[queue_idx] instead of vp_dev->vqs[i], so the store index matches the lookup index (vq->index). Apply the fix to both the MSIX and INTX paths.
INFO
Published Date :
July 25, 2026, 10:17 a.m.
Last Modified :
July 25, 2026, 10:17 a.m.
Remotely Exploit :
No
Source :
416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
Affected Products
The following products are affected by CVE-2026-64457
vulnerability.
Even if cvefeed.io is aware of the exact versions of the
products
that
are
affected, the information is not represented in the table below.
No affected product recoded yet
Solution
- Apply the kernel patch for virtio_pci.
- Update the Linux kernel to the corrected version.
- Reboot the system after updating.
- Verify the fix by testing device unbinding.
References to Advisories, Solutions, and Tools
Here, you will find a curated list of external links that provide in-depth
information, practical solutions, and valuable tools related to
CVE-2026-64457.
CWE - Common Weakness Enumeration
While CVE identifies
specific instances of vulnerabilities, CWE categorizes the common flaws or
weaknesses that can lead to vulnerabilities. CVE-2026-64457 is
associated with the following CWEs:
Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)
Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification
(CAPEC)
stores attack patterns, which are descriptions of the common attributes and
approaches employed by adversaries to exploit the CVE-2026-64457
weaknesses.
We scan GitHub repositories to detect new proof-of-concept exploits. Following list is a collection of public exploits and proof-of-concepts, which have been published on GitHub (sorted by the most recently updated).
Results are limited to the first 15 repositories due to potential performance issues.
The following list is the news that have been mention
CVE-2026-64457 vulnerability anywhere in the article.
The following table lists the changes that have been made to the
CVE-2026-64457 vulnerability over time.
Vulnerability history details can be useful for understanding the evolution of a vulnerability, and for identifying the most recent changes that may impact the vulnerability's severity, exploitability, or other characteristics.
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New CVE Received by 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
Jul. 25, 2026
Action Type Old Value New Value Added Affected [{'repo': 'https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git', 'vendor': 'Linux', 'product': 'Linux', 'versions': [{'status': 'affected', 'version': '89a1c435aec269d109ed46ca7bbb10fa8edf7ace', 'lessThan': '41e6dc1a10036c9f47057033f19af7e52ec464b6', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': '89a1c435aec269d109ed46ca7bbb10fa8edf7ace', 'lessThan': '075bc3c779e1ea7294afabdcb7e0a49536959b28', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': '89a1c435aec269d109ed46ca7bbb10fa8edf7ace', 'lessThan': '64a4c0befa77bcc01076aec9f93863ffd4ed06b7', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': '89a1c435aec269d109ed46ca7bbb10fa8edf7ace', 'lessThan': 'f7d380fb525c13bdd114369a1979c80c346e6abc', 'versionType': 'git'}], 'programFiles': ['drivers/virtio/virtio_pci_common.c'], 'defaultStatus': 'unaffected'}, {'repo': 'https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git', 'vendor': 'Linux', 'product': 'Linux', 'versions': [{'status': 'affected', 'version': '6.11'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '0', 'lessThan': '6.11', 'versionType': 'semver'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '6.12.96', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '6.12.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '6.18.39', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '6.18.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '7.1.4', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '7.1.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '7.2-rc1', 'versionType': 'original_commit_for_fix', 'lessThanOrEqual': '*'}], 'programFiles': ['drivers/virtio/virtio_pci_common.c'], 'defaultStatus': 'affected'}] Added Description In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: virtio_pci: fix vq info pointer lookup via wrong index Unbinding a virtio balloon device: echo virtio0 > /sys/bus/virtio/drivers/virtio_balloon/unbind triggers a NULL pointer dereference. The dmesg says: BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000008 [...] RIP: 0010:__list_del_entry_valid_or_report+0x5/0xf0 Call Trace: <TASK> vp_del_vqs+0x121/0x230 remove_common+0x135/0x150 virtballoon_remove+0xee/0x100 virtio_dev_remove+0x3b/0x80 device_release_driver_internal+0x187/0x2c0 unbind_store+0xb9/0xe0 kernfs_fop_write_iter.llvm.11660790530567441834+0xf6/0x180 vfs_write+0x2a9/0x3b0 ksys_write+0x5c/0xd0 do_syscall_64+0x54/0x230 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x29/0x31 [...] </TASK> The virtio_balloon device registers 5 queues (inflate, deflate, stats, free_page, reporting) but only the first two are unconditional. The stats, free_page and reporting queues are each conditional on their respective feature bits. When any of these features are absent, the corresponding vqs_info entry has name == NULL, creating holes in the array. The root cause is an indexing mismatch introduced when vq info storage was changed to be passed as an argument. vp_find_vqs_msix() and vp_find_vqs_intx() store the info pointer at vp_dev->vqs[i], where 'i' is the caller's sparse array index. However, the virtqueue itself gets vq->index assigned from queue_idx, a dense index that skips NULL entries. When holes exist, 'i' and queue_idx diverge. Later, vp_del_vqs() looks up info via vp_dev->vqs[vq->index] using the dense index into the sparsely-populated array, and hits NULL. Fix this by storing info at vp_dev->vqs[queue_idx] instead of vp_dev->vqs[i], so the store index matches the lookup index (vq->index). Apply the fix to both the MSIX and INTX paths. Added Reference https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/075bc3c779e1ea7294afabdcb7e0a49536959b28 Added Reference https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/41e6dc1a10036c9f47057033f19af7e52ec464b6 Added Reference https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/64a4c0befa77bcc01076aec9f93863ffd4ed06b7 Added Reference https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f7d380fb525c13bdd114369a1979c80c346e6abc