Upstream information

CVE-2026-97997 at MITRE

Description

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

virtio_ring: fix stale descriptor flags after a failed packed add

In a packed ring the AVAIL and USED bits sit in the descriptor itself,
so writing them makes that descriptor available. Those bit combinations
flip meaning on every round of the ring, tracked by a wrap counter, so
invalidating or validating a descriptor means inverting both bits.

Commit 1ce9e6055fa0 ("virtio_ring: introduce packed ring support") has
virtqueue_add_packed() make every descriptor of a chain available as it
maps the chain, and write the head last. The device consumes the ring in
order and stops at a head that is not available yet, so it never reaches
the rest.

When vring_map_one_sg() fails partway, unmap_release unmaps the segments
and restores avail_used_flags, but the descriptors it wrote to in the
ring stay marked with AVAIL and USED bits. The head is now the only
entry that keeps the device from consuming these stale entries.

For example, the ring would look like this now.

Z - pre-previous command
A - previous command
B - aborted command
C - current command

[A1 DONE] [A2 DONE] <C1 EMPTY> [B2] [B3] [Z1 DONE]

When the driver now attempts to issue the C command, the next add starts
at the same head as B. If C spans less descriptors than B, there is no
end marker because AVAIL and USED bits were still in place. And that
means the device will start interpreting these stale entries (B2/B3) as
another command entry, which then blocks the queue.

This effect typically happens in swiotlb configurations under memory
pressure, because vring_map_one_sg() can then fail with larger I/O
requests which then leads to command abortions.

There are broadly 2 ways to avoid leaving those flags behind:

1) Defer those flags too until the chain is complete.
2) Rewrite those flags for the previous wrap counter.

Implement the second option in both packed add paths. The first option
traverses the chain a second time on every successful add. The second
option invalidates all added descriptors when any add fails.

With this patch applied, a packed virtqueue keeps completing requests
after a failed add.

SUSE information

Overall state of this security issue: Pending

This issue is currently rated as having moderate severity.

CVSS v3 Scores
CVSS detail SUSE
Base Score 5.5
Vector CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Attack Vector Local
Attack Complexity Low
Privileges Required Low
User Interaction None
Scope Unchanged
Confidentiality Impact None
Integrity Impact None
Availability Impact High
CVSSv3 Version 3.1

Note from the SUSE Security Team on the kernel-default package

SUSE will no longer fix all CVEs in the Linux Kernel anymore, but declare some bug classes as won't fix. Please refer to TID 21496 for more details.

SUSE Bugzilla entry: 1283329 [NEW]

No SUSE Security Announcements cross referenced.


Status of this issue by product and package

Please note that this evaluation state might be work in progress, incomplete or outdated. Also information for service packs in the LTSS phase is only included for issues meeting the LTSS criteria. If in doubt, feel free to contact us for clarification. The updates are grouped by state of their lifecycle. SUSE product lifecycles are documented on the lifecycle page.

Product(s) Source package State
Products under general support and receiving all security fixes.
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP7 kernel-default Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP7 kernel-source Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP7 kernel-default Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP7 kernel-source Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 16.0 kernel-default Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 16.0 kernel-source Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 16.1 kernel-default Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 16.1 kernel-source Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro 5.3 kernel-default Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro 5.3 kernel-rt Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro 5.3 kernel-source Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro 5.3 kernel-source-rt Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro 5.4 kernel-default Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro 5.4 kernel-rt Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro 5.4 kernel-source Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro 5.4 kernel-source-rt Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro 5.5 kernel-default Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro 5.5 kernel-source Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro 5.5 kernel-source-rt Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP7 kernel-default Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP7 kernel-source Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Development Tools 15 SP7 kernel-default Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Development Tools 15 SP7 kernel-source Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time 15 SP7 kernel-source-rt Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP7 kernel-default Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP7 kernel-source Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 16.0 kernel-default Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 16.0 kernel-source Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 16.1 kernel-default Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 16.1 kernel-source Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP7 kernel-default Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP7 kernel-source Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP applications 16.0 kernel-default Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP applications 16.0 kernel-source Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP applications 16.1 kernel-default Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP applications 16.1 kernel-source Affected
SUSE Linux Micro 6.0 kernel-default Affected
SUSE Linux Micro 6.0 kernel-source Affected
SUSE Linux Micro 6.0 kernel-source-rt Affected
SUSE Linux Micro 6.1 kernel-default Affected
SUSE Linux Micro 6.1 kernel-source Affected
SUSE Linux Micro 6.1 kernel-source-rt Affected
SUSE Linux Micro 6.2 kernel-default Affected
SUSE Linux Micro 6.2 kernel-source Affected
SUSE Linux Micro Extras 6.0 kernel-default Affected
SUSE Linux Micro Extras 6.0 kernel-source Affected
SUSE Linux Micro Extras 6.0 kernel-source-rt Affected
SUSE Linux Micro Extras 6.1 kernel-default Affected
SUSE Linux Micro Extras 6.1 kernel-source Affected
SUSE Real Time Module 15 SP7 kernel-source-rt Affected
openSUSE Leap 16.0 kernel-source Affected
Products under Long Term Service Pack support and receiving important and critical security fixes.
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 12 SP5 kernel-source Not affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4-LTSS kernel-default Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4-LTSS kernel-source Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP5 kernel-source Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP5-LTSS kernel-default Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP5-LTSS kernel-source Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP4 kernel-source Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP5 kernel-source Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP6 kernel-source Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Development Tools 15 SP4 kernel-source Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Development Tools 15 SP5 kernel-source Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Development Tools 15 SP6 kernel-source Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP4 LTSS EXTREME CORE kernel-default Not affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP4 LTSS EXTREME CORE kernel-source Not affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP5 kernel-source Not affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP5-LTSS kernel-default Not affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP5-LTSS kernel-source Not affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP4 kernel-source Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP4-LTSS kernel-default Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP4-LTSS kernel-source Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP5 kernel-source Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP5-LTSS kernel-default Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP5-LTSS kernel-source Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP6 kernel-source Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP6-LTSS kernel-default Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP6-LTSS kernel-source Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server LTSS Extended Security 12 SP5 kernel-default Not affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server LTSS Extended Security 12 SP5 kernel-source Not affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP4 kernel-default Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP4 kernel-source Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP5 kernel-default Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP5 kernel-source Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP6 kernel-default Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP6 kernel-source Affected
Products past their end of life and not receiving proactive updates anymore.
SUSE CaaS Platform 4.0 kernel-source Not affected
SUSE Enterprise Storage 6 kernel-source Not affected
SUSE Enterprise Storage 7 kernel-source Affected
SUSE Enterprise Storage 7.1 kernel-source Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 11 SP4 kernel-source Not affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP1 kernel-source Not affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP2 kernel-source Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP3 kernel-source Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP4 kernel-source Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP5 kernel-source Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP6 kernel-source Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP1 kernel-source Not affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP1-ESPOS kernel-source Not affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP1-LTSS kernel-source Not affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP2 kernel-source Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP2-ESPOS kernel-source Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP2-LTSS kernel-source Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP3 kernel-source Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP3-ESPOS kernel-source Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP3-LTSS kernel-source Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4 kernel-source Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4-ESPOS kernel-source Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP5-ESPOS kernel-source Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro 5.0 kernel-default Not affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro 5.1 kernel-default Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro 5.2 kernel-default Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro 5.2 kernel-source Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP1 kernel-source Not affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP2 kernel-source Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP3 kernel-source Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Development Tools 15 SP1 kernel-source Not affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Development Tools 15 SP2 kernel-source Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Development Tools 15 SP3 kernel-source Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time 15 SP2 kernel-source Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time 15 SP3 kernel-source Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time 15 SP4 kernel-source Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time 15 SP4 kernel-source-rt Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time 15 SP5 kernel-source-rt Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP4 kernel-source Not affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP4-LTSS kernel-source Not affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP1 kernel-source Not affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP1-BCL kernel-source Not affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP1-LTSS kernel-default Not affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP1-LTSS kernel-source Not affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP2 kernel-source Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP2-BCL kernel-source Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP2-LTSS kernel-default Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP2-LTSS kernel-source Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP3 kernel-source Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP3-BCL kernel-source Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP3-LTSS kernel-default Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP3-LTSS kernel-source Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP1 kernel-source Not affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP2 kernel-source Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP3 kernel-source Affected
SUSE Manager Proxy 4.0 kernel-source Not affected
SUSE Manager Proxy 4.1 kernel-source Affected
SUSE Manager Proxy 4.2 kernel-source Affected
SUSE Manager Proxy 4.3 kernel-source Affected
SUSE Manager Proxy LTS 4.3 kernel-source Affected
SUSE Manager Retail Branch Server 4.0 kernel-source Not affected
SUSE Manager Retail Branch Server 4.1 kernel-source Affected
SUSE Manager Retail Branch Server 4.2 kernel-source Affected
SUSE Manager Retail Branch Server 4.3 kernel-source Affected
SUSE Manager Retail Branch Server LTS 4.3 kernel-source Affected
SUSE Manager Server 4.0 kernel-source Not affected
SUSE Manager Server 4.1 kernel-source Affected
SUSE Manager Server 4.2 kernel-source Affected
SUSE Manager Server 4.3 kernel-source Affected
SUSE Manager Server LTS 4.3 kernel-source Affected
SUSE Real Time Module 15 SP4 kernel-source-rt Affected
SUSE Real Time Module 15 SP5 kernel-source-rt Affected
openSUSE Leap 15.3 kernel-source Affected
openSUSE Leap 15.4 kernel-source Affected
openSUSE Leap 15.4 kernel-source-rt Affected
openSUSE Leap 15.5 kernel-source Affected
openSUSE Leap 15.5 kernel-source-rt Affected
openSUSE Leap 15.6 kernel-source Affected
Products at an unknown state of their lifecycle.
16.1 kernel-source Affected


SUSE Timeline for this CVE

CVE page created: Wed Sep 30 15:03:18 2026
CVE page last modified: Wed Sep 30 20:01:21 2026